Letters from the Highlands, Or, The Famine of 1847

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LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS ;

OR,

THE FAMINE OF 1847.

BY EGBERT SOMERS.

LONDON:

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO.

EDINBURGH: SUTHEELAND & KNOX. GLASGOW: J. B. MACNAIR,

MDCCCXLVIII.

3B1

PRINTED BT GEOBOB TBOUP, 29, DDNLOP 8TBEET, GLASGOW.

//997'^^ -^^O

PEEFACE.

This volume is the result of a Tour of Inquiry in the
Highlands during the autumn of last year. The severe
distress in which the population of the north-western dis-
tricts of Scotland were involved by the loss of the potato
crop of 1846, had excited a great deal of attention to the
social condition of that part of the kingdom; and it was
the intention of the Author, as early as the spring, to
take a journey through the Highland counties, with the
view of personally investigating the state and circumstances
of a race in whose cause he had taken a lively interest for
some years. For several reasons, however, his purpose
was delayed till the middle of October; and, with the ex-
ception of some inquiries made in the district of Lochaber
at the time of the Queen's visit to Loch Laggan, the facts
contained in these Letters were collected during that and
the subsequent month.

The Letters were published seriatim in the Nouth
Bbitish Daily Mail, a journal which, since its com-
mencement, has taken a marked interest in every question
affecting the condition and prospects of the Highlands.
They appeared in the same order in which they are printed
in this volume, with the exception of Letters xxvi., xxvn..

IV PEEPACE.

and XXVIII., which were written and published in Septem-
ber, a fact which will explain some allusions contained in
them.

Letters xxv., xxix., xxx., and xxxi., are now submit-
ted to the pubUc for the first time.

The Author has little apology to offer for obtruding
upon the pubUc, in a new form, productions, the greater
part of which have already been made patent through the
columns of a widely-circulated paper. It was suggested
to him by several warm friends of the Highlands, that the
publication of the Letters in a collected shape would be
calculated to promote the cause which they had at heart,
and the idea was too congenial to his wishes to be resisted.
An intelligent public will forgive the hterary imperfections
of sketches, most of which were written hurriedly, in the
intervals of wearisome journeys, and without access to the
usual sources of information; for, though the Author has
carefolly revised them, it has been impossible to alter
materially their original structure. To help forward the
cause of the suffering Highlanders was the prime object
for which they were written, and to that cause they are
dedicated anew.

Glasgow, April, 1848.

CONTENTS.

P»g«.

LETTER I.— Journey in Fife and Foifiurshire — A Comical Railway —
Strathmore- Undue Proportion of Pasture— Its Depopulation— Condi-
tion of Agricultural Labourers— Old Abbey of Cupar-Angus— Dispersion
of its Revenues — ^New Burdens — Assessment for the Poor— Religious Dis-
sension, . ........ 1

LETTER n.— Destructive Floods— Loss of Farm Produce— Damage to
Flax Mills— Fall of Blairgowrie Bridge— The Bridge Question— Impor-
tance of Blairgowrie as a Seat of Manufactures — Outcast Condition of
Buighs of Barony— Baron-Bailies— Necessity for a better Organization. 6

LETTER m.— Scenery of Blair-Atholl- Decrease of Population— The
Clearance System — Its Results— Condition of Day-Labourerg— Effect of
Railway Works upon Wages— Desire for Small Allotments— Condition of
Paupers— Distribution of the Queen's Donation Uf the Poor— Persecution
of Free Church, 10

LETTER IV.— Visit to Glen Tilt^The Duke's Tickets of Admission— La-
byrinth of Roads — A Surprise — Old Blair— Demeanour of Duke's Labour-
ers — Description of the Glen— The Old Roads — Duke's New Drive — Shoot-
ing Lodge — Expected Encounter with the Duke— No Interruption offered
— Right of Way through the Glen— Necessity of Establishing it in a Court
of Law— Clearance of Glen Tilt from 1780 to 1790— Duke's Pretext for Ba-
nishing the People— His violent Measures to raise a Re^ment— Proposal
to Sell the Solmers— His Defeat and Revenge— Glen Tilt a Desert— Its
Capabilities, 15

LETTER v.— A Olance at the Deer Forests— Their Rapid Extension— Mo-
dem Nimrods— Qearances of Sheep to make room for Deer— Effects upon
the People — Motives of the Lairds — The Sheep Farmer outbidden by the
Sportsman— An Historical Parallel— A Crisis approaching in the Highlands, 24

LETTER VI.— External Appearance of Badenoch— The Duchess of Gordon
—Improvements and Increase of Population— Emigration— Military Far-
mers—Their 111 Success— Villages of Kingussie and Newtonmore— Con-
dition of Crofters— Inferiority to the Smul Farmers under the Old Sys-
tem— Relief Operations— A Word to the Central Board, . . 28

LETTER Vn.— Strathspey— Amalgamation of. Parishes— External Aspect
—Waste Land— The Earl of Seafield— The *' Blue Book "—Obstacles to
Improvement — ^A Primitive Factor — New Set of the Farms— Increase of
Rents— Day-Labouters-Inequality of Poor Assessment— Exemption of
Sportsmen, ........ 33

LETTER Vni.—Beauly— Origin of its Name— Lord Lovat— His Improve-
ments—Size of Farms — Two Extremes— Great Proportion of Small Hold-
ings—Dependence of Crofters upon Day -labour— Consequent Depression

VI CONTENTS.

P«ge.
of Wages— ££Fect8 of the Potato System— Necessity of increasing the
Crofts — Lord Lovat's Deer-Forest -Attempt to Restore the Priory— Re-
taliation— State of the Chisholm's Property— Village of Beauly, . 89

LETTER rx.— County Meeting at Dingwall— The Town Clock— The Scribes
and the Publicans— Preliminary Questions— Want of Roads in Oairloch
and Lochbroom— Proposals of Uie Relief Board— the Debate— Victory of
Easter Ross— The Moral, ...... 46

LETTER X.— Macleod's Stage Coach— Scenery of West Highlands— Loch-
carron— Club Tenants — Their Condition — Imperfect System of Fanning
—Necessity for New Offices and Incloeures- The Two Parties— Improve-
ment in the Management of Sheep Stock— An Inference— Sheep Farms
ofTullach and New Kelso, ...... 53

LETTER XL— Village of Janetown— Size and Produce of Lots— Failure of
theHerring-Fishing— Danger of Famine— Population Facts, . 58

LETTER Xn.— Distribution of Relief— Defects of the System— Requisite
Amendments— The Poor-Law— A Case of Improvement under the Drain-
age Act— Loss to the Proprietor, and the Reason— A Successful Employer
of Highland Labour, ....... 60

LETTER XUL- Constitution of Relief Committees— Elements of High-
land Society— Two Glasses— Difficulty of Organising a Local Relief Agency
—Captain Elliot's Revolution— Its Effects— Future Relief Measures for
Lochcarron, ........ 65

LETTER XIV. — Plockton— Symptoms of Trading Activity— Produce of Lots
—Relative Amount of Nutriment derived from a Crop of Potatoes and a
Crop of Oats or Barley— Repeated Failure of Potatoes— Number and Pro-
duce of Cows— Improvements effected under Relief Committee— State of
Crofts— luxurious System of Manuring and Tilling— Necessary Changes, 70

LETTER XV.— A Resident Proprietor— Rental and Produce of Lochalsh-
Distribution of Soil— Two Facts— An Ecclesiastical Sinecure— Deficiency
ofthe Means of Education, ...... 76

LETTER XVI.— Fishing Villages of Domie and Bundalloch— Cry for more
Land— Pi^er Sphere of Relief Board— Rise and Progress of Towns— Con-
trast of mghland Villages— Their Defects and Natural Resources— A
Schoolmaster at Work, . 80

LETTER XVn.— Contrast between the Scenery and Social Condition of
the Highlands— Population of Glenshiel- Great Increase of Rents— Its
Causes — Omissions of the Legislature— Thraldom of the Cottars, . 85

LETTER XVHL— Recipents of Relief in Glenshiel— Evasion ofthe Poor-
Law— Rate of Assessment — Miserable Condition of Paupers and Cottars —
Qlenelg Proper— Improvability of the Soil— Sheep-Farms- The Kirkton —
Mr. Baillie— A new Species of Bankruptcy, .... 89

LETTER XIX.— Kyle Rhea— Lord Macdonald's Property— St<mpage of
Works by Relief Board— Highland Factors— Parochial Relief— Grand
View— A Little Ireland, ... v ... 93

LETTER XX.— Crofters and Cottars in Strath— Refusal of Leases— The
True Reason of this Policy— Emigration- Poor-Rate— Loss of Rent to
Proprietor— Stoppage of Operations under Drainage Act, 96

LETTER XXI.— Want of Plantations in Sl^e— Profits of the Kelp Manu-
facture—Extravagance of the Highland Chiefs— Its Results, . 100

CONTENTS. Vll

p»fir»

LETTER XXn.— The Feeble Character of Agriculture in Skye— Exceptions
— ^An Extensive Moor— Great Extent of Waste Land in Duirinlsh— The
Macleod— Social Condition of the People— Habits of the Women— Reme-
dies— Macleod's Store — Monopolies of the Rich, ... 104

LETTER XXm.— The Skye Memorial in &yoar of Emigration— Inconsis-
tency of its Facts and Conclusions — Wants of the Population — Capabili-
ties of the Island — Scheme for the Employment of the People at Home
—Its Practicability— Its Advantages— Wholesale Emigration an Expen-
sive and Endless Remedy, . . . . 110

LETTER XXIV.— Arisaig— Highland Inquisitiveness— A Woollen Weaver-
Condition of Tradesmen — ^Destitution of Crofters and Cottars— Heartless
Conduct of Lord Cranstoun — Functions of Rent — ^Waste Land — Educa-
tional Destitution, . . . . . . 117

LETTER XXV.— Glenfinnan— Prince Charles* Monument— The Inscription
— The Lochiel Country— Disappearance of the Old Celtic Polity— Distres-
sed Condition of the Crofters — Malthusian Regulations — A Crofter's Sug-
gestion to the Central Relief Board— Lochiel's Qualities as a Ltmdlord, 121

LETTER XXVL— Estate of Inverlochy— Its Boundaries— Solitude of the
Sheep Walks— The Crofts — Farm of Torlundy — Its Waste Condition-
Farm of Auchandaul— Successful Improvements — The Gamekeeper and
the Cottar— Population the Great Improver— Entails and the Game-Laws
—Leases of the Crofters —Injustice of the Laws of the Estate— An Old
Soldier— Lord Abinger a Site-Refuser, .... 136

LETTER XXVn.— Glen Spean— Primitive Character of the Hamlets-
Fanning in Common— Poverty of the Club-Tenants— Defective Cultiva-
tion— Run-rig— Its injurious Effects— Attachment of the People to the
Hamlets— Symptoms of Improvement— The Road-Tax— Mr. Walker and
the Mackintosh, ........ 137

LETTER XXVm.— Want of Activity in Reaping the Crops— Wetness of
the Climate— The Highlands beet fitted for Green Crops— The Small Na-
tive Farmers the proper Agents of Improvement— Steam Communication
between Loch Eil and the Mersey— Lean and Fat Sheep— Grievances of
Fort-William— A Political Metamorphosis— Self-commemoration, . 143

LETTER XXIX.— Ardgower— Model Crofts— Colonel M'Lean— His Policy
—A Sick Cottar— The Folly of Niggardly Relief— Strontian— Diminution
of the Croft»— The Lead Mmes — Extensive Woods— Pirn Factory at Salen
—Herring-Fishing — Great Amount of Reclaimable Soil, . . 147

LETTER XXX.— Salen— A Storm— Highland Mode of Fulling Cloth— Ele-
ments of a New Arcadia — ^Tobermory — The Poor in their own Houses —
Ejectment of Cottars — Accumulation of Misery in Towns and Villages —
Massacre of the Innocents, ...... 153

LETTER XXXI.— Fishing Facilities of Mull and Skye— Potato-Planting
and Herring-Fishing— Their Encouragement of Idle Habits— Their Fail-
ure— Lai^e Capital necessary to Successful Fishing— Indolence of the
Monied Classes in the Highlands, ..... 160

LETTER XXXII.— Sources of Highland Want— Waste of Land, of Manure,
of Capital, of Labour, of Time— Remedies — A Liberal and Effectual Poor
Law— A Law for the Unemployed— Abolition of Entails— Greater and
Better Means of Education, ...... 165

APPENDIX, IKJ

LETTEES
FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

LETTEE I.

Journey in Pife and Porfisorshire— A Comical Railway— Strathmore— Undue
Proportion of Pasture— Its Depopulation— CJondit ion of Agricultural La-
bourers — Old Abbey of Cupar-Angus — ^Dispersion of its Uevenues- New
Burdens— -Assessment for the Poor— Religious Dissension.

I LEFT Edinbxirgh on Wednesday, the 13th October, by the
newly-opened Edinburgh and Northern Eailway, expecting to
reach Blairgowrie the same evening — a district which, a few days
before, had been the scene of a destructive inundation. Travelling
in rife and Forfarshire, however, is still a very chequered and
uncertain operation. What with unfinished railways, firths too
wide to be spanned by arches, and lumbering omnibuses drawn
by hacks in the last stage of penury, I found the journey from
the Lothians to Strathmore to be one of extraordinary vicissitude,
I am not sure but Dr. Johnson, who traversed these parts in
1773, and found the roads both smooth and commodious, without
any of the " dirt" which he afterwards took occasion to describe
as one of the chief characteristics of Scotland, had a much more
comfortable ride than the traveller who makes the same passage
in this present autumn of 1847. The modem tourist may move
with somewhat greater velocity, and at less expense ; but the
Lexicographer in his chaise could beat him hollow in so* far as
regards ease and dignity. The shifting from railway to steam-
beat, from steam-boat to omnibus, and from omnibus back again
to railway, is perpetual and perplexing ; and the anxiety which
at first is naturally fdt for the safety of one's luggage amid so

a LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

mucli tossing about, soon gives way to care of a more closely
personal description.

At Dundee, I took my seat on the Newtyle Railroad, which is a
curiosity in its way. Like the public roads some two centuries
ago, this railway is remarkable for avoiding the hollows, and
climbing over the tops of the hills. The trains are swung, by
means of fixed engines, from one height to another, in the most
playful fashion imaginable ; and on reaching the top of one of
these ascents, where you expect to breathe a little more freely,
you are suddenly jerked round a comer into a tunnel of the
tightest fit, the smoke and darkness of wliich realise to the
flurried imagination the fabled terrors of Tartarus. It is with
sincere thankfulness you find yourself safely landed at New-
tyle, though here I was doomed to meet with a disappointment.
The guide-books — ^with the publishers of which the railway com-
panies ought, for the sake of their customers, to cherish the most
friendly intimacy — ^had led me to expect that " passenger car-
riages run right through between Cupar-Angus and Dundee with
all the trains." This, I believe, had been the rale until a few
days before, when the directors resolved that passengers should
be carried no farther than Newtyle ; and, as if to make the incon-
venience greater, they send'off their afternoon train from Dundee
fifteen minutes exactly before the arrival of the passengers who
leave Edinburgh at half -past ten, a.m., and who, consequently, find
it impossible to catch the Blairgowrie omnibus, which leaves New-
tyle at four o'clock, p.m. These unexpected arrangements pre-
vented me from reaching Blairgowrie on Wednesday night. A
little concert between the directors of railways communicating
with each other, and a little more painstaking and expense in
advertising changes in the hours of arrival and departure of trains,
would do away with many absurd misarrangements, and prevent
an immense deal of disappointment to passengers ; though to me
the delay at Newtyle was not without its advantages, as it com-
pelled me to loiter in a district rich both in natural resources and
historic associations.

Strathmore, as its name imports, is a wide and extensive valley,
and its beauty and fertility are fully as remarkable as its size.
The road from Newtyle to Cupar-Angus passes through large
farms, containing the best arable soil, and cultivated by tenants
who live in the style of country gentlemen. The houses occupied
by these farmers are commodious and elegant; many of them are

STRATHMORE. 3

surrounded with fine old massive trees, which seem to intimate
that, in a former age, they were the seats of small resident proprie-
tors; and to most of them are attached, at a respectful distance,
substantial quadrangular offices. Agriculture on these large farms
is carried on in a spirited and enlightened manner ; but the im-
mense proportion of soil lying in pasture is a feature which must
strike every observer. The grazing and feeding of cattle are
carried on to a great extent ; and large droves are brought down
from the Highlands by the farmers to stock their grass fields. If
the Highland valleys were cultivated, so as to produce green crops
to fatten the cattle which are reared there, there would be little
necessity for this round-about traffic, and the grass parks of Strath-
more might be turned to their natural use, and yield abundant
crops of com to the advantage both of the district and the nation
at large.

I found that, in order to bring about the present disposal of
the soil, the clearance system was as necessary, and had been as
vigorously thoi^h more warily prosecuted, in the Howe of Angus
as in Strathnaver or Glencalvie. Tracts of land now occupied by
single tenants were formerly possessed by twenty or thirty small
farmers. Some of these had one, and others two plough-gates
of land each; and if the tradition of the district can be relied
upon, they were deficient neither in ability to pay their rents nor
in skill to cultivate the soil. Three or four hamlets, now reduced
to skeleton proportions, or entirely swept away, were named over
to me as having been flourishing within the last thirty years in
aU the bloom of agricultural industry and population. There can-
not be any doubt that the rural parts of Strathmore have suffered
considerable depopulation. The number of inhabitants in the
parish of Kettins in 1801 was 1,207, and in 1831 it was 1,193,
being a decrease of fourteen. Some active influences must have
been at work to prevent the inhabitants of such a parish as Kettins
from increasing considerably in the course of thirty years ; and,
could we carry our comparison back to a more ancient date, the
reverses of population would appear still more striking. In addi-
tion to the village of Kettins, there are six hamlets in the parish,
and each of these, in old times, was the seat of a subordinate
chaplainry — ^a fact which argues that they must have been a great
deal more densely peopled than they are now, when the parish
church is amply sufficient to accommodate the whole parish. At
the beginning of the present century the population of the rural

4 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

part of the parish of Cnpar-Angus was 812 ; while in 1831 it had
dwindled down to 415. These are two examples: the same
results have, no donht^ occurred in other parishes ; and it is by
no means difficult to perceive where the people, thus expelled
from the soil, have taken refuge. Dundee has increased in thirty
years from 40,000 to 70,000 ; and Cupar-Angus, in the same
period, from 1,604 to 2,200. The increase of the towns is not
to be regretted ; but Dundee would have multiplied as well, if
not as rapidly, though Strathmore had retained its inhabitants ;
and it is impossible to look back on the extirpation of the small
fanners without regret. In comfort, in independence, and in
practical intelligence, they were far superior to the depressed
and miserable race of labourers to which the residue of them have
been reduced.

The demand for labour on the railways has had the effect of
raising the wages of ploughmen and farm-servants ; but the food,
houses, and apparel, of these sons of toil, are still of an inferior
description; and the oppressions and impurities of the bothy
system are rife among this class in Forfarshire as in some other
counties of Scotland. It was observed by Cobbett, that the con-
dition of the labourer was worse on the rich than on the poorer
lands ; and the condition of the farm-servants in Strathmore does
not contradict that theory. The worst feature in the circum-
stances of the agricultural labourer is the hopelessness of his lot.
The destruction of the small farms has swept away from his eyes
all prospect of rising above his servile condition : it has made a
breach in the social ladder which he finds it impossible to
surmount.

At Cupar-Angus, the site of an abbey is still visible, which is
said to have been founded by Malcolm IV., in 1164. A small
comer of one of the waUs, covered with ivy, is all that remains
of this ancient building, which, in common with other religious
houses, fell a prey to the fury of the populace at the Reforma-
tion. It has been even more unfortunate than many other
Roman Catholic edifices, for its very stones have been carried
away. The parish church, and a considerable past of Cupar, are
built with the ruins of the abbey ; and it is not unusual to see
the lions, coats of arms, and other carved work that adorned
its walls, sticking grotesquely in the fronts of houses, side by
side with sign-boards, which inform the public that the inmates
sell British and foreign spirits, or tea> sugar, and tobacco.

CUPAR-ANGUS. 5

Pampered for centitries by the Hays of Ikrol, but chiefly by the
Scottish kings, this abbey came at length to be richly endowed.
In 1561 its money revenues amounted to £1,238 14s. 9d., which
was equal to £8000 or £9000 of our present money ; while its
com revenues were upwards of 200 chalders — a pretty hand-
some income for a few idle monks, and, if not gluttonously gor-
mandised or superstitiously misapplied, capable of dispensing an
immense amount of education and charity over the neighbouring
territory. What prodigies of good might not be accomplished
by so rich a treasury in the present day ! But, alas ! alas ! the
dispersion of the abbey stones is not more complete than the
dispersion of the abbey revenues. The abbacy was erected by
James VI. into a temporal lordship, in favour of a younger son
of Lord Balmerino. Some of the waste lands remained common,
till, rising in value, they were appropriated, bit by bit, by the
surrounding heritors, and a churchyard, crowded with the graves
of the dead, is aU that has fallen to the people out of this public
and princely estate.

The people of Cupar-Angus are now suffering the severe effects
of this Royal favouritism and private appropriation. With the
exception of the adherents of the Establishment, the inhabitants
have to build and repair their churches, and pay their own minis-
ters and schoolmasters, and to these burdens, which bear specially
on Dissenters, has lately been added the maintenance of the
poor, which is common to all sects. House-property in Cupar-
Angus is assessed at Is. lOd. per pound, while landed property
in the parish only pays lid. per pound ! Keeping the abbey and
its revenues out of sight altogether, it is a most uiqust arrange-
ment to tax houses, which are a very perishable kind of property,
twice as heavily as land, which is the most stable of all posses-
sions ; but when the abbey lands, and the hands into which they
fell, are considered, the wrong, of course, becomes all the more
outrageous, and it must require an extraordinary sweetness of
temper on the part of the people of Cupar-Angus to submit to
it. The poor cannot be properly cared for when the principle of
the assessment is so unequal ; for a sense of wrong extinguishes
the feeling of charity, and the interests of the poor are forgotten
amid the squabbles between the towns-people and the lairds.

In addition to this irritating question of the poor, the social
atmosphere of Cupar-Angus is embittered by a full share of that
religious dissension which is now so prevalent in Scotland. There

a2

6 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

were lately five, and there are still four, Presbyterian denomina-
tions, and one Episcopal body, in this small town, each of which
has a separate place of worsMp. This variety of sects, of conrse,
is not peculiar to Cupar-Angus. It is, unfortunately, a national
characteristic. The separation of Presbyterians and Episcopalians
is natural, for between these denominations there are broad and
palpable grounds of difference ; but the division of Presbyterians
themselves into so many conflicting 'sects betrays a lamentable
weakness of judgment, or an aggravated spirit of prejudice and
faction, from which I would fain hope the Christian people of
Scotland are rapidly emerging.

LETTEE II.

Destructive Floods— Loss of Farm Produce— Damage to Flax Mills — ^Pall of
Blairgowrie Bridge — The Bridge Question — ^Impoitance of Blairgowrie as a
Seat of Manufactures — Outcast Condition of Boi^ghs of Barony- Baron-
Bailies— Necessity for a better Organization.

Upon leaving Cupar-Angus, I began to discover traces of the
floods which had occasioned so much consternation and loss to
the inhabitants. About a mile from that village the road to
Blairgowrie passes over the Isla, a river of considerable size,
which there flows through a spacious and undulating hollow, well
cultivated, and, consequently, containing many well-filled farm-
yards. Some few miles farther up, the Isla receives the waters
of the Ericht, the designation which is given to the Ardle and
the Shee after their confluence with Blakgowrie. These streams
take their rise amid the Grampians, and in wet seasons bring
down the torrents which pour from the sides and summits of
these pathless mountains. On the late occasion they were flooded
beyond all former experience, and upon falling into the Isla,
swelled that river to an alarming height. Embankments have
been raised in several places as a protection against such pheno-
mena, which are of annual occurrence; but the flood on this
occasion rose so high above all previous water-marks that these
barriers were of little service, the water swelling far above them,
and sweeping over places which had hitherto been considered

BLAIRGOWRIE. 7

secure from inundation. Houses were flooded; hay and com
stacks floated from the barn-yards, and were left stranded in the
haughs, or, if carried into the current of the river, were scattered
and swept down into the Tay. When I passed, the disjecta membra
of the flood were gathered in heaps in the fields, and all the opera-
tions of harvest — ^binding, stocking, carting, and stacking — ^have
had to be renewed on a small scale. The hedges, hundreds of yards
from the edge of the river, were filled with the straw and sand
carried down by the torrent, and, together with the water-marks,
still traceable, afforded sufficient evidence of the appalling charac-
ter of the scene. The public road on both sides of the bridge
was immersed over a considerable space, and in some parts to so
great a depth that the horses of the Blairgowrie omnibus, in
passing through, were oliged to swim for their lives. It is fit
matter of wonder and gratitude that no human lives have been
lost by this extensive deluge. It is impossible to give anything
like an estimate of the loss of property in the vicinity of the
Isla. Fortunately, the farmers in that district are generally able
to sustain a misfortune of this kind ; and the reports which have
appeared exaggerate the damage rather than understate it.

Floods of this destructive kind are usually occasioned by the
rapid melting of snow on the hills ; but this could not be the
cause in autumn, and a new interpretation has to be sought for
the inundation in this case. A tract of dry weather immediately
preceded the fall of unusually heavy rains, which, instead of being
drunk up by the pores of the mountains, poured over their
hardened surface; and hence, it is siqpposed, the sudden and
voluminous deluge which swept over the low grounds.

At Blairgowrie the devastation was also very extensive. The
village itself was protected by its elevated position from the
ravages of the flood ; but the nimierous flax-miUs situated on the
sides of the river suffered severely, and the workers, comprising
a large proportion of the population of the village, have in conse»
quence been thrown into a state of temporary non-employment.
The Ericht, for a considerable distance north of Blairgowrie, flows
between immense walls of rocks, which confine its impetuous
waters within narrow compass. Most of the miUs are perched
among these rocks a good way above the usual flood-marks —
the wheel-houses being the only parts of the buildings that are
touched by the stream. Had they occupied a lower foundation,
the destruction of machinery and materials might have been enor-

8 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

mous. As it is, tlie damage was chiefly confined to the lades —
the dykes and sluices of which have been swept away, and the
channels choked up with sand and rubbish. In the majority of
cases, ten days will suffice to put the works in a state of efficient
repair. Adamson and Leadbetter's factory, which is the most
extensive, is situated below Blairgowrie, on a piece of haugh-
land close to the edge of the river. It was consequently more
exposed to the action of the flood. The bleachfield, lying between
the factory and the river, was entirely overturned, and great
quantities of thread destroyed. A wooden shed, containing 2000
spindles of flax, was torn open ; and another erection of the same
kind, luckily filled with less valuable materials, was complitely
swept away. A considerable portion of the flax carried off by
the water became entangled in the adjoining bushes, and has
since been recovered, but of course in a damaged condition. The
lade was also much dilapidated, and fifty labourers have been
engaged in clearing out the masses of sand and dirt accumulated
in the channel. Four hundred people are employed in this
factory, to whom even a temporary cessation of employment is
no ordinary inconvenience ; but by the spirited exertions which
are being made to restore matters to their wonted state, it is
expected that this mill, in common with the others, will resume
operations in ten days from the disastrous occurrence.

As the flood increased, carrying down with it trees, gates, and
similar heavy materials, it was apprehended that the old bridge at
the end of the village would scarcely be able to keep its feet
against so furious an onset. It was observed once or twice to
totter ; and at last a huge sluice-gate from one of the mills struck
the centre pillar with tremendous fury, and, rebounding, it sti-uck
it again and again, till great part of two arches toppled down into
the raging stream.

I found all Blairgowrie agitated with the bridge question. A
meeting of road trustees was 'held two or three days before, to
consider what was to be done. Whether should they repair the
old bridge, or build a new one ? And if the latter course was
agreed to, at what point should the new bridge be erected?
These were the grave questions which challenged the wits of this
assembly. There were two rival interests on the carpet— the
village interest and the landed interest. The former demanded that
the new bridge, like the old one, should be built in the immediate
vicinity of Blairgowrie, while the latter preferred to have it a

BLAIBGOWBIE. 9

mile or two farther up the river. The more directly selfish
motives couched under this latter proposal were covered by cer-
tam specious pretexts of a public character, such as, that the
erection of a bridge at Blairgowrie, where the stream is broad,
would be a great deal more expensive than at a point higher up,
where one small arch is all that is required to connect the
natural pillars of rock which flank both sides of the river. The
proverbial advantage of building upon a rock was also expected
to have some weight. The village interest, however, was inexo-
rable ; and it was agreed, by mutual consent, to take the opinion
of Mr. LesHe, engineer, Dundee. The old bridge has been
exaaiined by that gentleman ; and, I believe, at his recommenda-
tion, it win be repaired, with the view of affording time to deter-
mine the locality of the new erection. The villagers have
undoubtedly the best end of the argument. Rattray, a village
of nearly a thousand inhabitants, is situated close to Blairgowrie,
on the opposite side of the stream. What a rending of affections
and interests would it be to deprive two such communities of
the ready intercourse which has hitherto been afforded them by
their bridge ! Moreover, how would the factory-workers get access
to Adamson and Leadbetter's mill ?

Blairgowrie is a rising place, and its interests should not be
lightly esteemed. It is already the seat of important manufac-
tures, and if it gets fair play, may speedily swell into a populous
town. Its houses are laid out in a style which denotes that it is
not altogether void of pretensions of this kind. It has its streets,
its squares, its crescents, its lanes, and its rows. Like most
Highland towns, it is rather more dirty than there is any need
for ; and the sanatory movement might be introduced with the
greatest advantage. There is a lamentable deficiency in the
organization of rural towns like Blairgowrie. Your burghs of
barony, with obsolete charters granted by the obsolete Stuarts,
are a species of urban outcasts for which there is no one to
care. In their early infancy they were committed to the tender
mercies of a termagant nurse, called a baron-bailie, whose disci-
pline had often a strong tinge of " Jeddart justice;" but as this
personage was appointed by the lord of the manor, his authority
fell with the feudal influence of his master, and the burghs of
barony have been allowed to run helter-skelter ever since. It
would be a laudable thing to raise a board of rulers in the midst
of them, to punish offences against public order, and to promote

10 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

taste and cleanliness among the inhabitants. The improvement
of a country, and especially such a country as tlie Highlands, de-
pends materially on the prosperity and decorum of its villages, which
operate as centres of influence over the surrounding territory.

The impassable state of the roads, occasioned by the fall of
several bridges, prevented me from tracing the ravages of the
flood farther up the river than the flax-miUs of Blairgowrie. I
therefore set out for Blair Atholl, by Dunkeld, passing along the
edge of several pretty lakes, and through deep woods, abounding
with squirrels, rather a rare animal to a Lowlander. Dunkeld
itself, with its venerable cathedral, its stately pines, its soaring
mountains, and its majestic stream, is worth a long joumef: to
see; while in the plain of Atholl romantic scenery and ducal
folly combine to give ample exercise to both head and heart.

LETTEE III.

Scenery of Blair-Atholl— Decrease of Population— The Clearance System— Its
Results— (Condition of Day-Labourers— Effect of Railway Works upon Wages
— Desire for Small Allotments— Condition of Paupers— Distribution of Uie
Queen's Donation to the Poor— Perseeution of Free Church.

It would be superfluous to describe minutely the diversified
scenery of Blair-Atholl. Traversed from end to end by the great
Highland Bx)ad, and forming annually a favourite resort of hun-
dreds of tourists, the natural attractions of this parish must be
familiarly and widely known. The famous pass of Killiecrankie
ushers you from the south into the plain of Atholl — ^a level stripe
of land stretching along the left bank of the river Garry, and
gradually widening as you proceed, till it swells into a spacious
arena of great fertility, surrounded with verdant hills, and thickly
filled with woods, houses, parks, streams, and every necessary
element of a lovely rurd scene. The peopled industry of a
gigantic parish is compressed into this Atholl garden, three or four
miles long, and half as many broad. Conspicuous in the crowd
of objects stands Blair Castle, the seat of the Duke of AthoU,
engrossing in its ample park full three-fourths of the choicest a^res
of the plain. On a hill-side close by the castle, the mansion of
James Patrick M*Inroy occupies a rather proud position, but mo-

BLAEft-ATHOLL. 11

destly veils itself with fir from the jealous glance of its ducal
neighbour. The cottages and inns, composing the new village
of Blair, straggle at irregular intervals along the pubHc road ; and
farm-dwdllings, from the two-storied house to the lowly mud hut,
fill up the landscape, some along the edge of the Garry, some on
the shoulders of the hills, and others cleaving like swallows' nests
to the steep mountain-side. This busy plam is the gfeneral ter-
minus of half-a-dozen long glens, which shoot away up among
the Grampians, taking with them, into these wild regions, varying
portions of the fertility in which they have their source. The
principal of these are, first. Glen Tilt, a very rich and beautiful
glien, stretching from the Blair Atholl policies in an easterly
direction, to which I will devote a separate chapter ; secondly.
Glen Bruar, running northward, and famous chiefly for its falls ;
and, thirdly. Glen Garry, which takes a westerly course, and
forms the pathway through which the Highland Road effects its
passage of the Grampians. These great glens are intersected by
smaller valleys, watered by rivulets, and presenting every variety
of aspect, from the rich fertile carse to the bleak barren moor-
land. Such is a general outline of the landscape characteristics
of Blair Atholl.

Like most Highland parishes, Blair-AthoU has witnessed a
rapid and steady decrease of its population. The clearance system
was begun here long before it was thought of in many other
parishes. Whatever merit Mr. James Loch and Mr. Patrick SeUars
may take to themselves for expelling the people from the straths
of Sutherlandshire, they cannot claim the merit of originality.
They were merely imitators of Dukes of Atholl and other heroes
of their cause, who lived before them. Glen Tilt was cleared of
its inhabitants by the present Duke of Atholl's grandfather,
twenty or thirty years before the burnings and ejectments of
Sutherland were heard of. The expulsion of the people from
that delightful valley commenced more than sixty years ago; and
before the present century began, the last family in it had rouped
off, and bade farewell to a scene which they and their fathers for
generations had called their home. I vrill enter upon this topic
more minutely when I come to write of Glen Tilt ; but I mention
now the fact of its clearance sixty years ago, in order to prove
that Blair-Atholl had been considerably depopulated even before
the commencement of the present century. The decrease of
people ill the parish since that period can be shown by authentic

12 LETTERS FROM THE HI6HLANDS.

public returns. In 1801, the population of Blaur-Alholl is giyen
at 2,848; in 1831, it was 2,384 — showing a decrease of nearly 600
in the course of thirty years. And at the census of 1841, the
population of the parish was 2,231 — ^being 153 less than in 1831.
The consolidation of small fanns is proceeding steadily. When
leases expire, and a new tenant can be obtained, no scruple is
entertained against turning out half-a-dozen, twenty, and some-
times thirty families, to make room for one. This is, and
has been, the practice on nearly all the estates in the parish.
The clearance and dispersion of the people is pursued by the
proprietors as a settled principle, as an agricultural necessity, just
as trees and brushwood are cleared from the wastes of America
or Australia ; and the operation goes on in a quiet, business-like
way, that neither excites the remorse of the perpetrators, nor at
tracts the sympathy of the public.

Let us try to comprehend the results of this policy. Every
clearance produces misery and pauperism. It lessens the amount
of work to be done in a parish, because the large farmers turn
extensive tracts of soil into grass, on which the small tenants
used to grow com, turnips, and potatoes. And while it dimi-
nishes the work to be done, it increases the number of those who
can only subsist by hiring themselves to do it. It grinds down
small farmers into day-labourers. Occupiers of seven, ten, and
twenty acres of land, owning several cows, and a score or two of
sheep, and deriving their livelihood from their own resources, su-
bordinate to no contingency except the influences of the weather,
are suddenly converted into dependent labourers, without land,
without property of any kind, and without any surer safeguard
against starvation than the precarious demand which other men
may have for their labour. This, of course, is not the fate of all
the small fanners. Some who have saved a little money go to a
foreign land, and some may strive, for a time, to maintain them-
selves by the profits of petty trading ; but both of these resources
are beyond the reach of a considerable number, who have no
other alternative than to fall into the labour market. If this
artificial increase of day-labourers were accompanied by any great
industrial operations, either manufacturing or agricultural, it
would lead to little absolute suffering. The first pangs of
removal over, the small farmers would settle down into their new
position, and, under a life of more constant exertion, would find
few of their former comforts curtailed. But, on the contrary, the

BLAIK-ATHOLL. 13

addition constantly made to the labouring class is not merely the
concomitant, but the result of a system which, as I have stated,
diminishes the amount of industry and the demand for employ-
ment; and, by the operation of these two concurrent circum-
stances — a truly " ill-matched pair" — it is easy to perceive how
inevitably a wretched and impoverished race of labourers is cre-
ated by the clearances. Pauperism flows as certainly from the
same source. When a small farmer was disabled by accident or
sickness, the culture of his land went on as before, and his com
grew, and his cows gave milk as plentifully ; but the same man,
when reduced to the position of a labourer, has no resource,
when disabled, but the parish roll. And the old infirm people,
who share the produce of the small farms occupied by their sons
and daughters, necessarily become chargeable as paupers on the
charity of the parish, when the small farms are broken up, and
their offspring reduced to poverty and dependence.

In a parish, therefore, which, like Blair-Atholl, has been ex-
tensively cleared, it is always important to inquire how it fares
with the labourers and paupers. The condition of the large far-
mers presents only the fair side of the picture ; but in the cir-
cumstances of those who have been displaced to make room for
all that fine gHtter, we discover the real character of the clearings.
The day-labourers of Blair- Atholl are enjoying a degree of pros-
perity at present which, I fear, is not to be regarded as perma-
nent. The railway operations have raised wages here, as in other
parts of the country ; and, in one sense, the severe distress of
last winter may be said to have improved their condition. The
Central Relief Board very properly refused to send supplies into
Blair-Atholl, on the ground that the proprietors were capable of
doing all that was necessary themselves. The labourers were
threatened vdth the greatest extremities. Employment was
scarce, and food was selling at a famine price. In this emergency,
the Duke of Atholl gave work in his woods and pleasure-grounds
to a considerable number, at the rate of 10s. and 12s. a-week.
This employment is still continued, and wages continue at the
same rate as during the dearth. In conversation with one of
the labourers, I said, in a half interrogatory way — " Wages are
pretty good here ; 9s. a-week, I dare say?" "More than that,"
replied he ; "some of us have 12s. a-week." "Indeed ; that is a
good wage." To this opinion, however, the man scarcely
assented; and, with a knowing look, referred me to wages on

B

14 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

the railways. "Yes," said I, "that is true — ^wages on the rail-
ways, I believe, are 18s. and 21s. a-week." "Weel, then," said
the labourer, effectually clinching his argument, "what for no
should we tak' less than 12s. here?" The railway operations
have thus, like an immense lever-power, raised the poor man's
lot, not merely in the neighbourhoods in which they are carried
on, but to the farthest and most inaccessible comers of the
country. But should a pause occur in the march of railway
industry, or should an arbitrary stop be put to the works during
the present winter, on account of the monetary pressure, it is
fearful to what a point of depression such a rebound might
plunge the poor labourers of a parish like Blair-Atholl. There
is nothing to sustain them in such a crisis. The employment
given them by the Duke is entirely ornamental, and, like all in-
dustry of that sort, is exhaustive and temporary.

' Much anxiety is manifested by the labourers to get an acre or
two of land; but only a very few enjoy this privilege; and as
these few are sub-tenants of the large farmers, they pay dearly
for it. Their object in having land is to rear as much turnip
and straw as will feed a cow during winter, the advantage of
which, to a poor family, can scarcely be over-estimated. Were
the proprietors to give allotments sufficient for this purpose to
all the day-labourers, their condition would be greatly improved.
As it is, their lot is one of hardship and vicissitude.

There are about seventy persons in the parish receiving paro-
chial relief, and nothing can be more meagre and inadequate than
the allowance doled out to them. The general aliment is 6d.
a-week ! Some who enjoy the special favour of the Duke are
well treated by his Grace ; but the great majority would be lite-
rally starved except for the charity of their neighbours. An
application was made to the Board of Supervision last year by
one of the poor people for an increase of aliment, but it was
refused. There is no legal assessment, and the poor are managed
by the heritors and kirk-session.* The Queen, during her visit
to Blair-Atholl, gave a donation of £100 for the benefit of desti-
tute people in the parish ; and great complaints are made of the
way in which the kirk-session dealt with her Majesty's bounty.
Two years elapsed before it was finally distributed. It was given

* See Appendix, No. I.

BLAIR-ATHOLL. la

out in sums of 5s. from time to time, and was a relief to tlie
heritors rather than the poor, as it was practically substituted for
the allowance which the poor should have received from the
parochial fund. The administration of the Poor-law in rural
parishes generally is partial and defective ; and the Central Board
seems unwilling to exercise the necessary control. An entire
change is desirable, as it is most unreasonable that proprietors,
who clear the people off their estates for what they consider their
own private advantage, and thereby reduce the aged and infirm
to pauperism, should be permitted to evade the burdens entailed
by their own system.

The Free Church body are strong in Blair-Atholl ; but they
have been very oppressively treated by nearly all the proprietors.
No permanent site has been obtained for either church or manse
within the bounds of the parish ; and this and other acts of per-
secution have been borne by the minister and people with the
most uncomplaining patience. A marked change has taken place
of late years in the moral and religious condition of the popula-
tion ; and, had rural industry and the means of social improve-
ment been encouraged 'by the heritors, Blair-Atholl would have
been as well cultivated and as comfortable a parish as any in
Scotland.

LETTER IV.

Visit to Glen Tilt— The Duke's Tickets of Admission— Labyrinth of Roads -A
Surprise — Old Blair — ^Demeanour of Duke's Labourers— Description of the
Glen— The Old Roads— Duke's New Drive— Shooting Lodge— Expected En-
counter with the Duke— No Interruption offered — Right of Way through the
Glen — Necessity of Establishing it in a Court of Law — Clearance of Glen Tilt
from 1780 to 1790— Duke's Pretext for Banishing the People— His violent
Measures to raise a Regiment — Proposal to Sell the Soldiers— His Defeat and
Revenge — Glen Tilt a Desert— Its Capabilities.

On Monday morning, the 18th October, I set out on foot from
Blair-Atholl Inn to visit the far-famed Glen Tilt. It was with
some anxiety and trepidation I entered that beautiful but preca-
rious pass, guarded from public intrusion by an impetuous Duke
and some score or two of stalwart hill-men. I could not avoid
reflecting on my solitary and defenceless condition, and how easy

16 LETTERS FROM THE. mOHLANDS.

it woiild be for the Duke, in a £t of feudal rage, to immure me
in the dungeon of his castle, or bury me fathoms deep in some
dark pool of the Tilt. A dream I had had, before waking, of a
fierce encounter with a hawk, was little calculated to allay these
anxious thoughts ; as it seemed to augur an approaching collision
with some feathered biped, that was just as likely to be a High-
land chief as any less rational denizen of the forest.

I had been told at the village that the Duke granted tickets
of admission to the glen when these were politely asked by
respectable people; and one obliging person even proposed to
procure me one of these precious documents, not much inferior
in their magic powers to the " Open Sesame" of Ali Baba and
the Forty Thieves. But I had also heard another story, which
was to the effect that, from time immemorial, the public had
enjoyed right of way through the glen — ^that all the old people
in the parish, and many of the young ones, had exercised this
right oftener than they could count, and were prepared to swear
that they had seen with their own eyes the beaten track which
they and their fathers trode ; and, finally, that passengers were
still in the practice, ahnost daily, of msiing their way through
the glen in equal contempt of ducal prohibition and ducal
leave. Tacts like these, it is obvious, were calculated to damage
the credit of the Duke's tickets very considerably. They de-
preciated the value of these fiattering pieces of paper in much
the same way as the stoppage of a bank depreciates its " promises
to pay." Li both cases the granters promise what is not theirs
to give, and it is impossible to accept their favours without losing
by them. Tickets from the Duke of Atholl, permitting access
to Glen Tilt, are not unlike the black-mail which Highland cate-
rans levied upon Lowland cowards for restoring the cattle which
they had stolen from them — ^with this difference, that, in days
when law and right are strong, it would be trebly disgraceful to
yield to any such imposture. Accordingly I declined the obliging
offer that was made to me, and, mustering courage, resolved to
try the fortunes of the day, unarmed with any other weapons than
a just cause and a moderate-sized walking-staff.

The morning was grey and misty. It had rained heavily all

night, and the fallen leaves, that lay thick and soaked with wet

upon the roads, spoke in saddening terms of the rapidly-declining

year. The time was ill chosen for a good view of the glen ; but

^ the object of my mission was not to admire its scenery, but

GLEN TILT. 17

to learn its liistory, its capabilities, and its present uses, this was
a matter of less consequence.

The road leading into the glen passes for a short distance. along
the left bank of the Tilt, and is screened by a fir plantation from
Blair Castle, situated in its spacious p€ffk on the opposite side of
the river. Ten minutes' walk brings you to a small hamlet, at
which you have a choice of two different routes. One of these
climbs the hill to the right, and, passing along the brow of the
glen for a mile or two, gradually descends again to the edge of
the stream. The other crosses the old bridge of Tilt on the left,
a crazy erection, shrouded with trees, and leading through a half-
ruined archway into the policies of Blair. I chose this latter
path, and in a minute or two found myself in a new labyrintli.
Three roads were offered me — one, which was closed with a gate,
not locked, passed through a wood, and, as I afterwards learned,
forms part of the new drive which the Duke has made through
the glen ; another penetrated the same wood in a different direc-
tion ; and a third, surmounted by an old grey arch, led the pas-
senger along what seemed to be a garden-wall. Knocking at the
door of a cottage that was close by the entrance of the last-
named way, I inquired the road to the village of Old Blair, whicli
I had been informed lay upon my road, and at which I expected
to find some old people to converse with about the glen. " Dat's
it," said an old woman, sharply, who answered my appeal, and,
pointing through the old arch, vanished before I had time to
examine her features, or put any further queries. However, I
followed her direction, and on issuing from under cover of the
garden-wall, found myself within a few hundred yards of the front
of the Duke's castle. This, after aU, thought I at the moment,
' is rather too close a bearding of the lion in his den, and the
" pop! pop!" of a double-barrelled rifle in the vicinity of the
Big House startled me, as if they had been the warning growls
of the monarch of the forest. But in a moment all was peaceful.
Several Highland bullocks browsed in the park, and at a greater
distance a herd of deer was seen slowly retiring from the open
grounds into the cover of the woods. A few paces brought me
to a party of labourers, whom I accosted. " How far is it to Old
Blair ?" " This is Old Blair," said one of the men ; and, looking
round, there, sure enough, stood ten or a dozen cottages, which
I had taken for the peat-sheds and lumber-rooms of the castle.
Pointing to a fine avenue of trees which had evidently seen better

b2

18 LETTERS FBOM THE HIGHLANDS.

days, I inquired what that had been in old times. " That is the
old public road," said my informer ; " and the white house you
passed round the comer there, with the garden in front, and the
cherry-trees climbing up the walls, in which the Duke's factor
lives, was once the old village inn." This intelligence gave me
fresh confidence. If the village and the old high-road were so*
very near, it was impossible I could be far from the place
where the public had enjoyed a right of entrance to the glen.
The few houses of which the old village of Blair now consists are
inhabited by the Duke's labourers, and one or two old people who
live on his Grace's bounty — ^parties very unlikely to give any
information that might militate against their patron's authority.
On conversing with them about the closing of the glen, they
adopted an apologetic tone in regard to the late proceedings of
the Duke ; and the collision between his Grace and Dr. Gregory
and his party — of which they seemed heartily ashamed — was
attributed to an officious hill-man, who posted down to the castle,
and inflamed the Duke's wrath by a cock-and-bull story about
the forcible entrance which a body of tourists had made into the
grounds. No attempt was made to deny that the public had
hitherto enjoyed free access through Glen Tilt to Braemar ; and
being informed that the road I was on led into the valley, I
proceeded on my journey.

At the entrance of the glen, the hiUs recede on both sides,
and flattening down their summits, round themselves into na-
tural and easy union with thQ plain. As you scale the slopes,
nothing can exceed the picturesque beauty of the view. The
plain of Atholl lies stretched below you in the utmost magnifi-
cence — its numerous objects displaying themselves more minutely,
ai;id assuming a greater charm the higher you ascend. A few-
arable farms, of which the Duke*s home farm of Blair-Walker is
the principal, fill the mouth of the glen with rural plenty. The
few houses on the opposite side seem so near that you may
almost converse with their inmates ; while down in the bottom
of the glen, a profusion of wood covers the course of the Tilt,
known at this point only by the noise of its waters among the
rocks, and the thin line of spray which rises above the trees.
Ben-y-gloe and the higher mountains were capped with clouds,
but there stood their mighty though veiled forms like landmarks,
teaching the passenger of the glen what a long and devious route
he has to tread. The road alternately dips into the shadow of

GLEN TILT. 19

deep woods, and emerges into open glades ; and at length guides
you down to the bottom of the yalley, where you must be eon-
tent with a narrower prospect and less inspiring views. The
Duke's drive passes close along the edges of the Tilt, and cross-
ing from one side to the other by means of substantial bridges,
fts the course of the* stream and the conformation of the glen
require. In old times there seem to have been no bridges ; and
to avoid the danger of crossing fords, a road had passed along
both sides of the river, till the shallowness of the stream ren-
dered more than one unnecessary. These old roads take an
elevated route, but where the sides of the hills become steep or
rugged, they drop down to the bottom of the glen, and are
merged for a short distance in the new drive. It is perfectly easy,
however, to trace them from one end of the glen to the other;
and, at one time, they have been passable to wheeled machmes
over a distance of twelve or fourteen miles. Were a stranger
told that trespass could be committed in the glen, he would con-
clude that it must be upon these old roads, which long disuse
has allowed to overgrow with grass ; and as they are crossed in
some places by impetuous cataracts, and torn up in others by the
bursting of water springs, he would naturally prefer the Duke's
drive, which is very level, well gravelled, and exceedingly inviting.
I took some delight in traversing the old roads, and in tracing
out the sites of the numerous dwelling-places with which the
glen has at one time been thickly studded, formerly a seat of
rural townships. Glen Tilt is now a scene of utter desolation*
The Duke's Lodge, two or three cottages inhabited by game-
keepers, and one empty and fast-decaying farm-house, which is
said to have sheltered under its roof seven of the crowned heads
of Europe, are the only human residences remaining in a glen
which must, at one time, have contained 400 or 600 people. A
gamekeeper or a gillie hurried past me occasionally, at the jog-
trot peculiar to hill-men, as if despatched on some mission of
importance from the Castle ; and from them I learned that the
Duke was expected to visit the Lodge in the course of the day.
Not the slightest hint was given, however, that the glen was too
small to contain both his Grace and me; and the few words
about the shutting of the road that I was able to extract from
these kilted guardians of the forest, ran in the same humble
and apologising vein that I had remarked among the villagers of
Old Blair. Three hours' walking brought me to the Duke's

20 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

shooting lodge, a plain building of one story, situated lengthwise
across the glen, and ornamented with evergreens, in the form of
half-a-dozen square yards of Scotch kail. Here the new drive
ends, and the traveller to Braemar is conducted for the rest of
his journey along what is known in the Highlands as a good
bridle-road. As I had no desire to penetrate the wilds of the
Grampians, I paused soon after passing the Lodge, and soliloquis-
ing in the terms of Henry of Richmond —

" Thus far into the howels of the glen
Have we marched on without impediment,** &c. &c.

I began to retrace my steps to the plain of Atholl. It would
be tedious to narrate all the particulars of my journey downwards.
It is sufficient to say that I returned in the same unmolested
way that I had gone, without receiving an uncivil word from any-
one, and without encountering either hawk or chief. The Duke
either slept too long that morning, or I may have missed him
among the diverse roads and woods that occur at the entrance
of the glen.

From this narrative it will be perceived that the Duke is now
backing-out of the high position which he had taken up against
the public right of way through Glen Tilt. For, however
adroitly his dependants may attempt to throw the blame of some
late proceedings upon subordinates, there cannot be the smallest
doubt that his Grace issued positive orders that the glen should
be strictiy blockaded against passengers. Had not these orders
been recently countermanded, they would, no doubt, have been
executed against me by the hill-men, with whom I repeatedly
came in contact. Numerous stories are told of the encounters
which the Duke has had with travellers in the glen; and I
believe it can be well authenticated, that on one occasion he
presented his gun to two gentlemen, who were attempting to
force their way on horseback, in opposition to his threats. A
steady attempt has been making for years to propagate the idea
that the public have no right of access to the glen without the
Duke's permission ; and the stealthy progress of an opinion of
this kind is more to be dreaded than those acts of violence into
which the Duke is occasionally betrayed. The rebukes lately
administered to his Grace will probably have the effect of putting
him upon his guard ; and, for the future, he may attempt, by an
artful policy, what cannot be so easily accomplished by force.

GLEN TILT. 21

But it wotdd be pradent to strike the iron while it is hot. There
can be little difficulty in establishing in a court of law the right
of the public to free access to Glen Tilt. The old roads are there
to speak for themselves. Many travellers, now in their graves,
have leffc, in works that have survived them, glowing narratives
of journeys which they made along a beaten track horn Braemar
to Blair-Atholl ; and hundreds of living tourists could be found
to bear similar and more recent testimony. But, above all, the
tradition and practice of the people in the district itself would
afford overwhelming evidence of the prescriptive right of way
which the public have acquired through this convenient mountain-
pass. That there are some difficulties in the question may
be readily admitted. It is urged, for example, that the Duke
made the new road, and built the bridges at his own expense ;
and that, if the public assert their right to pass through the glen,
he can, at least, deprive them of the conveniences which are his
exclusive property. Certainly, if this view were sound, the Duke
might succeed in rendering Glen Tilt an irksome and dangerous
pass ; but what is the real state of the case ? The Duke's new
drive traverses the old road in many parts ; and if his Grace thus
takes from the public part of their way, it is reasonable that he
should yield to them a share of his. It is also to be borne in
mind that, by the old Bx)man law of way, which is the foundation
of the law of Scotland, it was declared that, where the public had
a right of way over a man's property, they were entitled, when the
road was out of repair, to go over any part of his land they pleased.*
The inconvenience that would accrue to tourists and men of
science from the closing of Glen Tilt has been much descanted
upon, and will be widely sympathised with ; but the injury which
such a despotic step would entail upon the people of the district
would be infinitely greater. It is only through the glens which in-
tersect the mountain ranges of the Highlands that the people of
one district can communicate with another. Glen Tilt connects
Blair-Atholl with Braemar, and is the direct channel of inter-
course between the eastern parts of Aberdeenshire and the
northern and central parts of Perthshire. Allow Glen Tilt to be
closed, and the journey from Blair-Atholl to Braemar, now about
twenty-five miles long, could only be accomplished by a circuit
of fifty or sixty miles.

* Bladotone's Commentaries, book ii., chap. 3.

22 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

It is in the clearance of the people from Glen Tilt that we
must look for the foundation both of the attempt which has been
made to destroy the public right of way through it, and of anj
dijficulty there may be in placing that right beyond the reach of
danger. Had Glen Tilt been suffered to retain its population,
any attempt to put it in a state of blockade would not only have
been unsuccessful, but it would have been literally impossible. So
far as I can gather, the depopulation of Glen Tilt was effected
between 1780 and 1790. This glen was occupied in the same
way as other Highland valleys, each family possessing a piece of
arable land, while the hiU was held in common. The people en-
joyed full liberty to fish in the Tilt, an excellent salmon river ;
and the pleasures and profits of the chace were nearly as free to
them as to their chief. Three or four pounds a-year was all the
rent paid for possessions capable of supplying a family with abun-
dance, but which, owing to the idle habits, the slovenly agricul-
ture, and the imperfect commerce of the period, were of infinitely
less value than they would be now, or than they might have been
even then. The present Duke's grandfather acquired a taste for
deer. The people were accustomed to take their cattle in the
summer season to a higher glen that is watered by the Tarff ; but
a large dyke was built at the head of Glen Tilt, and they were
forbidden to trespass, or suffer their stock to trespass, beyond it.
The outer region was consigned to the undisturbed possession of
the deer. These light-hearted creatures increased in number,
and paid no respect to their marches. They leaped over the en-
closure, and destroyed the poor people's crops. The Duke, observ-
ing this, gratified their roving propensities, and added a few-
thousand acres more to their grazing grounds at the expense of
the people, who now began to be peeled of their possessions like
one of their elms of its leaves by an October storm. Gradually
the forest ground was extended, and gradually the marks of cul-
tivation were effaced, till the last man left the glen, and the last
cottage became a heap of ruins. The same devastation which
WiUiam the Conqueror, and the early Norman kings, spread over
the plains of Hampshire, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries,
was thus reproduced, at the end of the eighteenth, in this quiet
Highland valley.

An event occurred at this period which afforded a pretext to
the Duke for this heartless extirpation of his people. Highland
chiefs were exhibiting their patriotism by raising regiments to

GLEN TILT. 23

serve in the American war ; and tlie Duke of Atholl could not be
indifferent in such a cause. Great efforts were made to enlist
the Glen Tilt people, who are stiU remembered in the district as
a strong athletic race. Perpetual possession of their lands, at the
then existing rents, was promised them, if they would only raise
a contingent equal to a man from each family. Some consented,
but the majority, with a praiseworthy resolution not to be dragged
at the tail of a Chief into a war of which they knew neither the
beginning nor the end, refused. The Duke flew into a rage ; and
press-gangs were sent up the Glen to carry off the young men by
force. One of these companies seized a cripple tailor, who lived
at the foot of Ben-y-gloe, and afraid lest he might carry intelligence
of their approach up the glen, they bound him hand and foot, and
left him lying on the cold hill-side, where he contracted disease,
from which he never recovered. By impressment and violence the
regiment was at length raised ; and when peace was proclaimed, in-
stead of restoring the soldiers to their friends and their homes, the
Duke, as if he had been a trafficker in slaves, was only prevented
from selling them to the East India Company by the rising mutiny
of the regiment ! He afterwards pretended great offence at the Glen
Tilt people for their obstinacy in refusing to enlist, andr — it may
now be added — to he sold ; and their conduct in this affair was
given out as the reason why he cleared them from the glen — an
excuse which, in the present day, may increase our admiration of
the people, but can never palliate the heartlessness of his conduct.
His ireful policy, however, has taken full effect. The romantic
Glen Tilt, with its fertile holms and verdant steeps, is little better
than a desert. The very deer rarely visit it, and the wasted grass
is burned like heather at the beginning of the year to make room
for the new verdure. To Lowlanders this may appear a singu-
lar statement ; but when I mention that I measured grass in Glen
Tilt a yard and a half long, they will be able to understand how
pasture may require to be burned. On the spot where I found
the grass most luxuriant I traced the seats of thirty cottages, and
have no hesitation in saying, that under the skill, the industrious
habits, and the agricultural facilities of the present day, the land
once occupied by the tenants of Glen Tilt is capable of mantain-
ing a thousand people, and leave a large proportion of sheep
and cattle for exportation besides. In the meantime, it serves
no better purpose than the occasional playground of a Duke.

24 LETTERS FBOH THE BICHLA2n>8.

LETTEB V.

A Glance at the Deer Forests— Their Bapid Extension— Modem Nimroda —
Clearances of Sheep to make room for Deer— EflFects upon the People —
Hotives of the Lairds — The Sheep Fanner outbidden by the Sportsman —
An Historical Parallel— A Crisis approaching in the Highlands.

** Frond Nlnrod flnt the bloody chase began,
A mighty hunter— and his prey was man.
Our haughty Norman boasts the barbarous name.
And malies his trembling slaves the royal game.
The fields are raTif>hed from industrious swains,
From men their cities, and from gods their fanes.
In vain kind seasons swell the teeming grain.
Soft showers distill'd and suns grow warm in Tain ;
The swain, with tears, his fhistrate labour* yields,
And, famish 'd, dies amidst his rlpeninff fields.
What wonder then a beast or sucgcct slain,
VTere equal crimes in a despotic reign r
Both, doomed alike, for sportive tyrants bled i
But, wlule the subject starred, the beast was fed." — Pops.

Befobe leaving the vicinity of the Grampians, it may be well
to glance for a few minutes at the deer forests, of which this
mountainons region is the great centre, and which, after yielding
to the advances of agricultnre and civilization, are rapidly re-ex-
tending their limits. Graick, where this letter is dated, is one of
the few remains of the ancient Caledonian Forest which seem
never to have been invaded by the march of industry, either
agricultural or pastoral. The Braemar and AthoU forests, and
some others in the wilder fastnesses of the Monad-leah, and other
mountain ranges, may be ranked in the same category. The
vast solitudes that lie in the centre of these Alpine heights are
well adapted for deer retreats ; but the same qualities which fit
them for deer would also fit them for the rearing and pasturing
of sheep, and at periods when the passion for hunting was weak,
there can be no doubt that even these old forests were partially
occupied by farm stock. In this utilitarian age one would expect
to find the forest ground of Scotland rapidly decreasing. But m
the Highlands the order of nature is reversed. The Highlands
is an outer kingdom, that moves under an entirely different law
of progress from that of Great Britain and Ireland. Here the
Nimrods of England and of half the world have made a desperate
rally. As they have seen their privileges falling one after one by
the blows of public opinion, and their parks and game preserves
invaded and ruined by the rise of towns, factories, railways, and
similar democratic nuisances, the sons of a mighty ancestor appear
to have cast their eyes to the far north, and by a universal reign

THE DEEB-FORESTS. 25

m that quarter, have resolved to make up for all that they have
lost. Like the ancient Caledonians, our modem wild men of the
woods have retired to the Grampians, and, secure amid their
fastnesses, bid defiance to the whole host of Romans who are
cutting forests, digging mines, and making roads in the plains.
The gigantic scale of their operations is incredible. New forests
are rising up like mushrooms. Here, on one side of Gaick, you
have the new forest of Glenfeshie ; and there, on the other, you
have the new forest of Ardverikie. In the same line you have
the Black Mount — an immense waste also recently erected. From
east to west — ^from the neighbourhood of Aberdeen to the crags
of Oban — you have now a continuous line of forest ; while in other
parts of the Highlands there are the new forests of Loch Archaig,
Glengarry, Glenmoriston, Glenstrathfarar, and others, whose
number and unpronounceable names would only weary the reader.
In some cases large tracts of soil are now consigned to deer, which,
I believe, never formed part of the old Caledonian Forest, not
even in the halcyon days of King Fergus, when that venerable
institution was in its zenith. The beauty and fertility of Glen
Tilt, for example, would preserve it in the rudest times as a
chosen seat of population. But in s^ cases the preparatory steps
are the same. Whether the old forest is simply revived, or
whether new regions are brought within that mystic circle for
the first time, the same devastation precedes the completion of
the enterprise. Houses, roads, enclosures, cattle, men, — every
work of time and of progress — ^the valuable creations of labour and
the slow changes of centuries — are all extirpated by a word, in
order that deer may enjoy the luxury of solitude, and sportsmen
monopolise the pleasures of the chase.

The clearances which have taken place within the last few
years, to make room for these new deer-forests, have made little
noise in the country, simply because they were clearances of
sheep and not of people. A sheep-farmer is usually a man of
capital It gives him little trouble to remove from one part of
the country to another. He sells off at the notice of his laird,
and looks for new walks without a grumble ; while his few shep-
herds merge into foresters with pretty much the same ease.
Hence the clearance of a sheep-farm is a much quieter proceeding
than the clearance of a township. But it is not less a clearance
on that account. It devotes land to private pleasure, the produce
of which was formerly so much gain to the commonwealth ; and

26 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

CTcn in its direct bearings npon the small tenants, it is attended
trith effects not much less injurious than a positive ejectment. It ia
curious, though painful, to trace the perversity with which the
Highland people are pursued from bad to worse, and from worse
to worse again. In the first place, sheep were introduced into
glens which had been the seats of communities of small farmers ;
and the latter were driven to seek subsistence on coarser and
more sterile tracts of soil. Now, again, deer are supplanting
sheep ; and these are once more dispossessing the small tenants,
who will necessarily be driven down upon still coarser land, and
to more grinding penury. Or, to speak more truly, the deer-
forests and the people cannot co-exist. One or other of the
two must yield. Let the forests be increased in number and
extent during the next quarter of a century, as they have been
in the last, and the Gael will perish from their native soil.

It is unnecessary to inquire at much length into the causes
which have impelled the Highland proprietors into this new
movement. With some it is a matter of ambition. A deer-
forest is beginning to be considered as a necessary appendage of
an estate. If it want that, it wants dignity; and forests^
accordingly, are introduced in much the same spirit as powdered
wigs and four-wheeled carriages at the beginning and the end of
last century. With some, again, the love of sport is the actuat-
ing motive ; while others, of a more practical cast, follow the
trade in deer with an eye solely to profit. For it is a fact, that a
mountain range laid out in forest is, in many cases, more profit-
able to the proprietor than when let as a sheep-walk. It is not
more profitable to the tacksman or to the country, but it yields
more rent to the owner; and if he be either a needy or a greedy
man, that one fact is sufficient to decide the disposal of it. The
huntsman who wants a deer-forest limits his offers by no other
calculation than the extent of his purse. In any circumstances
it will be a loss to him. He expects no pecuniary return ; his
object is simply to spend his money ; and if his means, there*
fore, be capacious enough, he can, and he will, outbid every oppo-
nent. With the farmer it is entirely different. Every farthing
he pays for rent, for stock, for seed, or for labour, he must bring
out of the soil again with a profit. The rent, therefore, which
he can afford to pay, is a strictly limited quantity, being regu-
lated entirely by the capabilities of the land ; and it is obvious
that he must ever be a weak opponent when brought into contest

THE DEER-FORESTS. 27

with wealthy sportsmen, who regard the forest as a luxury, and
are prepared to pay for it as such. This is the most discourag-
ing feature of the case ; for how, in these circumstances, are you
to check the erection of forests, and the consequent sufferings of
the people ?

The discussion of this question, if followed up, would lead us
into all the difficult problems connected with the origin, rights,
and conditions of property — a field of speculation that is beyond
my present purpose, which is rather to gather facts than to con-
duct profound arguments. I may be allowed, however, to allude to
an historical parallel. After the Conquest, the Norman kings
afforested large portions of the soil of England in much the same
way as the landholders are now doing in the Highlands. To
such an extent was this practice carried, that an historian informs
us, that in the reign of King John, " the greatest part of the
kingdom" was turned into forest, and that so multiform and
oppressive were the forest laws, that it was impossible for any
man who lived within the boundaries to escape the danger of
falling a victim to them. To prepare the ground for these
forests, the people required to be driven out ; and, notwithstanding
what Voltaire has said to the contrary, I believe it was done.
Cultivated land was laid waste, villages were destroyed, and the
inhabitants extirpated. Distress ensued, and discontent followed
as a natural consequence. But the Norman kings did all this in
virtue of their feudal supremacy ; and, in point of law and right,
were better entitled to do it than the Highland lairds are to imi-
tate their example in the present day. Was it, however, to be
tolerated ? Were the people to groan for ever under this oppres-
sion ? The barons gave a practical reply to these questions at
Runnymede, which it is unnecessary to detail. King John was
compelled to disafforest the land, and restore it to its natural and
appropriate use ; and the record of that great day's proceedings
is universally esteemed one of the brightest pages in English
history.

With this great example before their eyes, let the most con-
servative pause before they yield implicit faith to the doctrine,
that every man may do what he likes with his own. The funda-
mental principles of land-tenure are unchanged since the days of
Magna Charta ; and, however much the tendency of modem ideas
may have cast these principles into oblivion, they are stiU deeply
graven in the constitution, and, if necessity called, would be

28 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

found as strong and operative in the present day as they were
&ve centuries ago. If the barons conld compel the Sovereign to
open his forests, the Sovereign may still more orderly compel the
barons to open theirs ; and there is a power behind the throne
which impels and governs all. These are deep questions, whida
will only be stirred in this country in the midst of great extremi-
ties. But it is impossible for any one to travel in the Highlands,
and cast his eyes about him, without feeling inwardly that such a
crisis is approaching more rapidly than he cares to express or to
believe. Sufferings have been ii^cted in the Highlands scarcely
less severe than those occasioned by the poUcy of the Norman
kings. Deer have received extended ranges, while men have been
hunted within a narrower and still narrower circle. The strong
man has fainted in the race for life. The old and tender have
been left to die. One after one, the liberties of the people have
been cloven down. To kill a fish in the stream, oar a wild beast
upon the hills, is a transportable offence. K churches have not
been destroyed as by the Norman Conqueror, sites have been re-
fused on which to build them. Even to travel through the fence^
less forests is a crime ; and paths, which have linked hamlets with
hamlets for ages past, have been shut and barred. These oppres-
sions are daily on the increase ; and if pushed much further, it is
obvious that the sufferings of the people will reach a pitch when
action will be the plainest duty and the most sacred instinct.

LETTEE VI.

External Appearance of Badenoch — The Duchess of Gordon— Improvements and
Increase of Population— Emigration— Militarjr Fanners— Their HI Success-
Tillages of Kingussie and Newtonmore — Condition of Crofters — ^Inferiority to
the Small Farmers under the Old System— Relief Operations— A Word to the
Central Board.

The district of Bad^ioch, when first seen from the descents of

the Grampians, gives promise of a much wider diffusion of com-

ioxt than a minute investigation realises. The plain is extensive,

■^ing frequently flooded in winter by the Spey, great part of

s of meadow^ and rich arable land, reclaimed from tho

BABENOCH. 39

■%

water by means of artificial embankments. The woods growing
around the gentlemen's houses, and in spots where they have
been planted of late years for purposes of improvement, have a
warm and flourishing appearance. Most of the farm-houses are
substantial stone fabrics; few of the black heather bothies are
seen, which are the usual accompaniment of Highland misery;
and the villages are modem and cleanly in their aspect. To the
eye, in short, are presented all the characteristics of a thriving
Lowland district. But a close inspection convinces theinquirer that
a deep stratum of wretchedness lies under this fair exterior ; and
numerous families, in. very poor and distressed circumstances, are
found living in houses which have evidently been erected when
the proisperity of the district was greater, and the people in much
higher spirits than they are now.

About fifty years ago, the Duke and Duchess of Gk)rdon were
the leading magnates of this district ; and for a time the popula-
tion shared the benefits of the princely expenditure of that family.
The Duchess, who was a woman of extraordinary spirit and
capacity, employed herself in. organising and recruiting her hus-
band's regiment of Highlanders ; and at her beautiful cottage of
Kinrara her Grace entertamed, during five months every year, a
large circle both of Scotch and English nobility. The improve-
ment of the soil began to attract attention about the same period.
Moorland was brought into cultivation, embankments were raised
along the Spey, improved systems of farming were introduced,
and better houses were erected. Under the excitement of these
operations, Kingussie, of which scarcely a nucleus existed sixty
years ago, grew rapidly into a considerable village ; and the popu-
lation of the parish of the same name increased steadily up till
the census of 1831. At the date of the old Statistical Account,
the population of this parish was 1,803 ; and in 1831 it was 2,080.
But at this latter period the tide began to ebb, and in 1841 the
population had receded to 2,04*7. Mr. Shepherd, the parish minis-
ter, now of the Free Church, states, in his evidence before the
Poor-law Commissioners, that one hundred individuals left the
parish for Australia in one year. As education is widely diffused in
this parish, the people emigrate voluntarily rather than settle down
in a state of degrading wretchedness ; but, like other Highlanders,
they are strongly attached to their native country ; and the exten-
sive emigration which has taken place may be taken as an index
of the pressure which has been operating upon them of late years.

c 2

30 LETTERS FBOM THE HI0HLAND8.

In Badenoch, a great proportion of the large farms are occupied
by gentlemen who were at one time connected with the army. A
strsmger is amazed at the majors, and captains, and lieuteoantBy
with whom he finds a peaceable country so thickly planted; and as
they are all Macphersons or Macintoshes, he is apt to get com-
pletely bewildered in attempting to preserve their respectiye
identities. These gentlemen are officers who received their com-
missions from the Duchess of Grordon, and who, on returning home
from the wars, founded upon their services in the field a claim to
a comfortable agricultural settlement. Their demand was allowed;
but these military farmers, generally speaking, have not been suc-
cessful. It is said they offered too high rents ; and we may be
sure that, however expert they might be in disposing a body of
men on a battle-field, they would find (as a large grazier in the
North, who thinks himself as great a man as the Duke of Wel-
lington, has already intimated) that, to place a few hundred scores
of sheep upon a market-field to good purpose is quite a different
operation, and one that requires a different, if not a higher, genius.
Many of them have long since become bankrupt, and one of them,
at least, is at present in the same melancholy predicament. To
make room for these gentlemen of the army, the small farmers
were pushed to the wsdl. While the village of Kingussie was in
a growing state, it offered an asylum to the people thus cleared
from the land; and when its population began to run over, a
smaller village, called Newtonmore, received its refuse. In these
two villages, and in a few small crofts scattered over the barren
spots of the parish, have been deposited the dregs of wretched-
ness, which here^ as elsewhere, have been produced by extensive
clearances.

The villagers of Kingussie have small lots of land attached to
their houses, which they cultivate in a very spirited way. Last
year, Mr. Baillie, who is now the principal proprietor, reclaimed
twenty-five acres of waste, which are also to be assigned to the
people of the village. Where there is no trade to give the people
constant employment, the occupation of land is the only resource ;
and this timeous boon on the part of Mr. fiaillie, by enabling the
villagers to employ their spare time and eke out their limited in-
comes, may be the means of saving Kingussie from a decay as rapid
as its rise. Bankruptcies are frequent among the shopkeepers of
the village, occasioned by the ruinous system of long credit, com-
monly entailed upon small dealers by a poor population.

BADENOCH. 31

Newtonmore is smaller, in point of population, and much lower
in point of comfort, than Kingussie. Here the propertyless, the
dependant, and the wretched of the parish, are gathered. Small
pieces of land are attached to most of the houses ; but few of
them are larger than ordioary village gardens; while the only
external support given to the trade of the place is derived from
a number of small crofters, who are located on a rocky acclivity
that stretches back behind the hamlet. These crofters pay from
£3 to £7 of rent, and are far from being comfortable in their
circumstances — ^the nakedness of the soil giving the labour of the
poor people no chance of adequate reward. It is a prevalent no-
tion that it is small crofters, such as these, extracting a miserable
crop of com and barley from a few acres of barren land, that the
clearance system removed from the glens. But the very opposite
is the truth. The small tenants of this class are in fact creations
of the clearance system. It would have been impossible to have
found in the Highlands a collection of poverty like this Newton-
more, before that system was introduced. The small farmers
who were cleared were greatly superior in their possessions and
their condition to the crofters of the present day. They were
people who owned six or seven cows, two horses, and three or
four score of sheep. It is said that with all this show of wealth,
they were subject to periodical visitations of distress, amounting
sometimes to famine. And I admit there is some truth in this.
Under the old system the people were sometimes very badly oflF.
Their system of fanning was barbarous ; they neglected their
stock and they neglected their crops ; and, while both were going
to ruin, they indulged in savage indolence. Such conduct was
sure, occasionally, to entail severe suffering. But there was this
wide difference : the distress of the small farmers under the old
system arose entirely from their own bad management, while that
of the small crofters, under the new system, springs from the
essential defectiveness of their circumstances. In the one dass
you had all the materials of gradual and steady improvement; but
in the other you have dilapidated means and a broken spirit, con-
joined with a want of land, that renders improvement scarcely pos-
sible by any measure short of a new distribution of the soil.

A relief committee was formed here last winter in connection
with the Central Board. A sum of £150 was put into their hands,
which they divided in meal to the most destitute of the population.
In return for relief, the recipients were required to do some little

32 LETTEBS FROM THE mOHLANDS.

work, chiefly in their own gardens and lots. With the exception
of some planting on the late Major MTherson's property of Glen
Tmim, I conld hear of no improvements on the part of the pro-
prietors by which employment wiU be afforded to the people dnring
winter, and it is feared that many families will again be placed in
difficulties. Now is the time for the Central Relief Board to
prepare and digest its future measures. Let the crofts be imme-
diately examined — ^let the improvements be marked out which are
necessary to put them in a good arable condition — and let stipu-
lations be made with the crofters, by which sums will be paid
over to them, in some cases as direct grants, and in others as loans,
for the full value of the work done by them in a proper time, and
according to the directions of an efficient inspector. Let them
be entreated, encouraged, and impelled to shake off their apathy,
and commence a new battle. Where their leases are ahready long
enough, the benefit of the improvements will, of course, be secured
to them ; and where their leases are near expiry, or where they
have no leases at aU, let the influence of the Board be employed
to obtain from the landlord an adequate tenant-right to them, and
a treble good will be accomplished. Great and lasting service may
also be done by reclaiming waste land, to be afterwards laid out in
allotments to labourers who presently have no land, and who dis-
tinguish themselves by good working, during the process of recla-
mation. The Board should, of course, have long leases of such
waste land ; and to prevent mismanagement, the work should be
done through the mediimi of contractors. It is by such means,
leisurely and deliberately resolved upon, that the Central B>elief
Board may expect to do good in the Highlands. To rush into a
district in the hour of pressure with supplies of meal, to be divided
in famine quantities, is the worst possible system of relief. It is
the means of making their own livelihood, and not the pauper's
dole, that the able-bodied people of the Highlands require.

STRATH8PET. S3

LETTEE YII.

Strathspey— Amalgamation of Parishes— External Aspect— Waste Land— Tha
Earl of Seafield— The <*Blae Book"— Obstacles to Improrement— A Primitive
Factor— New Set of the Farms— Increase of Bents— -Day-Labourers— In-
•quality of Poor Assessment— Exemption of Sportsmen.

From Kingussie I proceeded to Graatown — ^the market-town
of a district whicli popular usage has distinguished by the name
of the Spey, though that river only waters it in common with the
Strath of Badenoch, and other valleys equally entitled to its ap-
pellation. Strathspey, commonly so called, comprehends the three
parishes of Cromdale, Duthil, and Abemethy ; and these again em-
brace in their bounds other four old parochial divisions, the names
of which are rapidly falling into oblivion. The amalgamation of
parishes has been carried to an enormous extent in the Highlands.
Gro where you will, there are two things you are always sure to
find — a great many small farms turned into one large one, and a
great many small parishes ditto. The latter practice has had the
same bad effect upon the moral as the former upon the physical
condition of the people ; for it has placed large masses of the
population beyond the reach of churches and schools. It may
have saved some thousands annually to the owners of land, in the
shape of ministers' stipends and schoolmasters' salaries, but it has
unquestionably robbed and deteriorated the people.

The external aspect of Strathspey is rather peculiar. The emi-
nences wear a gloomy covering of ling, while the hollows are
clothed in the more lively garb of cultivation. As these varieties of
surface are minutely intermingled, and are not gradually blended the
one into the other by any intermediate verdure, com and heather,
fertility and barrenness, are here seen in closer contiguity than in
other districts. The stranger is apt at first view to suppose that
the reclamation of land has been carried to its farthest limits ; and
that even the few tracts of soil that are abeady arable can only
have been made so by an expenditure of labour which their shal-
low and stony qualities hold out little prospect of ever adequately
repaying. But a better acquaintance with the facts speedily dissi-
pates such notions. A great proportion of the cultivated part of
Strathspey was at one time as thickly covered with heather, and

34 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

as obdurately unproductive, as the parts which are still in that con-
dition. If the one has been reclaimed with success, so also may
the other ; and the well-filled barn-yards, the increased rental, and
the increasing exportation of grata, prove that past improvements,
so far from ruining any one, have enriched the farmer, the proprie-
tor, and the public. Strathspey is certainly one of the finest dis-
tricts for the profitable reclamation of waste land that is anywhere
to be met with. The " New Statistical Account" observes, in re-
ference to the parish of Cromdale alone, that " above 1000 acres
might be added to the cultivated part of the parish with a profit-
able application of capital." Taking this estimate as correct, what
an inmiense field for exertion does the reclamation of even a thou-
sand acres' afford to a parish of little more than 3,000 souls!
How weak and foolish does the cry of over-population become
when viewed in conjunction with a fact like this ! The popula-
tion of Strathspey has steadily increased during the bygone part
of the century ; and, under a system of vigorous improvement, it
may yet be doubled without reducing the comforts of a single
family.

Of this extensive field for agricultural enterprise the Earl of
Seafield is the sole proprietor. His Lordship, like too many
Highland lairds, can scarcely be expected to do much by per-
sonal outlay to reclaim and fertilize the wastes of Strathspey*
His property in this district being unentailed, he might do good
by giving it a chance of finding an owner more capable of coping
with its necessities. Or, choosing from a natural feeling to re-
tain in his possession an estate that has been the property of his
ancestors for 500 years, he might at least render valuable assist-
ance to his tenants by means of capital raised under the Drainage
Act. But the Earl of Seafield neither chooses to sell his land,
nor to take a loan of Government money for its improvement.
In both of these respects his Lordship, of course, is entitled to a
certain liberty of action. There is another sphere, however, in
which a landlord's right to do as he likes with his own is more
circumscribed. A landlord who has not the means of improving
his soil, and who will neither sell that soil nor take the use of
public money, at one-third or one-fourth the usual rate of interest,
to accomplish what he has not money of his own to do, is bound,
by every principle of equity, to frame the laws of his estate on
such prineiples as will facHitate, so far as mere laws can facili-
tate, the work of improvement on the part of his tenants. Should

STRATHSPEY. 35

his regulations by any chance, directly or indirectly, discourage
his tenants from improving, he has committed a blunder or a
crime against which the public have the clearest title to remon-
strate.

The estate of Strathspey, like most other Highland properties,
has its own peculiar code of laws. These petty systems of juris-
prudence, which, in nine cases out of ten, may be described as
dry lawyer-Hke histories of what the landlord may do, and what
the tenants may not do, are in some instances written, while in
others they are simply traditional. The baronial law of the Chief
of the Grants is written, printed, and registered in the books of
Council and Session. It' circulates among the tenants in a blue
cover, from which it has acquired the rather expressive soubriquet
of " the blue book." I do not intend to enter upon a minute
examination of this serious document ; but in so far as it affects
the reclamation of the soil, it is well worth a few observations.

Among other regulations, it is enacted that the proprietor and
his heirs " do oblige themselves to pay to the tenants for every
Scots acre of land so improved [brought into culture for the first
time], and left under the proper rotation of the farm at the ex-
piry of their leases, the sum of £5 sterling at said term, over and
above melioration for enclosing the same." This appears exceed-
ingly fair on paper, but it operates otherwise in practice. It wiU
be observed that it is only when the land is " left" by the tenant,
at the expiry of his lease, that he becomes entitled to the com-
pensation for improvement ; and this has been interpreted as sig-
nifying when he is either ejected by the landlord, or retires from
the farm of his own accord. In such a case, the obhgation is
faithfully implemented, and nothing can be more equitable than
thus to allow tenants to take away with them an equivalent for
the capital which they have buried to good purpose in the soil.
But what is the consequence if the tenant wishes to renew his
lease, which is almost universally the case ? He is deprived of
the compensation for his past improvements; and, moreover,
these improvements are thrown into the scale against him in
adjusting the terms of his new lease. Instead of getting £5 for
every new acre he has added to his farm, he gets his rent well
raised. The more he loses on the side of compensation, the
more is he called upon to pay on the side of rent. His candle is
thus burned at both ends. What semblance of equity is there
in such an arrangement P By agreeing to pay the compensation

36 LETTERS FBOM THE HIGHLAKBS.

money if tlie tenant removes, the Earl of Seafield virtually admits
that there is a certain part of the farm of which that tenant is
the rightful owner. It must be his when he stays as clearly as
when he removes ; and to require him to pay rent for it without
first purchasing his admitted right over it, is literally to exact
interest for the use of his own capital. It is inconceivable to
how great an extent a law of this nature retards the reclamation
of the soil, and how widely it operates as an excuse for indolence.

Nor is this the only barrier to improvement in Strathspey.
The same clause of the blue book which I have quoted concludes
with a warning to the effect, that all improvements for which
compensation is expected must be made " with the approbation,
in writing, of Sir James Grant, or his foresaids, or their factor."
The proprietor or the factor is thus enabled at any time to curb
the most enterprising tenants ; and I believe a written authority
from the factor on the Strathspey estate to improve, is about as
difficult to obtain as a ticket of admission to the presence-chamber
of the Grand Turk. The respectable old gentleman who fills this
office is unfortunately a farmer of a very old school His creed
is, that every shilling laid out in reclahning or improving land
might nearly as well be thrown into the bottom of the^ea ; and
this antiquated agriculturist faithfully practises what he believes.
He cuts down his com with a curved saw, thrashes it with a flail,
and waits for a stormy day to blow away the chaff. Your High-
land societies and farmers' clubs are considered by him to be a
parcel of very foolish children ; while trenching, draining, sub-
soiling, paring, grubbing, and aU the modem jargon of agricul-
tural science, invariably throws him into fits of laughter. As a
sort of geological fossil, supplying the deficiencies of history, and
exhibiting to a hair the kind of men who inhabited the moors
of Scotland in the days of Malcolm Camnore, this venerable per-
son might be very amusing and very instmctive ; but as a factor,
invested with authority, in the nineteenth century, to say what
is to be done over tb-ee parishes, it is easy to perceive what a
heavy drag he must be upon the wheels of improvement.

These and other causes have retarded the reclamation of waste
land in Strathspey during the last few years. There are symp-
toms, however, that a new era is about to commence. The leases
of nearly all the tenants are just expiring, and a few days ago
there was a new set of the lands. The two or three last years of
a tack are usually years of sluggishness, so far as improvement is

BTRATHSPET. 37

concerned, and in this instance there was a special reason operat-
ing to increase that general tendency. The Earl of Seafield has
eiddbited a rather mysterious hostility to the Free Church cause
in Strathspey. He has granted sites on other parts of his pro-
perty, hut in Strathspey that privilege has been steadily refused ;
and as a large proportion of Ms tenants are Free Churchmen, it
was generally feared that the same influence that had been power-
ful enough to prevail upon his Lordship to make an exception of
Strathspey in the matter of sites, woidd also prove strong enough
to deprive the adherents of the Free Church of their fiirms, though
such an unreasonable clearance formed no part of his Lordship's
ordinary system. This apprehension was entertained up to the
day on which the new set took place ; when, to the satisfaction
of all, it was found that the farms were re-let with the utmost
impartiality, and without any regard to religious opinions. The
marches were squared ofP anew, which occasioned the disposses-
sion of some twenty or thirty occupiers ; but this operation was
conducted solely with a view to the improvement of the farms.
The cleared tenants will generally be permitted to use their old
lots till some new resource opens up to them ; and as there is
plenty of unoccupied land, it is to be hoped that a year or two
hence they will be comfortably located on new farms. The new
leases have restored the confidence of the people ; and with the
necessary encouragement on the part of the proprietor, and the
alteration of some injurious regulations on the estate, I have not
the smallest doubt that a most important career of improvement
would now commence in Strathspey. A considerable increase
which has been effected in the rents, if not just carried too far,
so as to trench too deeply on the produce of the smaller farms, may
possibly also tend to stimulate the tenants to greater exertions.
The rents of farms on this estate vary from £5 to £150 per an-
num ; and in the majority of cases the increase has been about
one-third. It is supposed that the rental of Strathspey, formerly
£9,000, will now be about £12,000.

There is a more numerous body of day-labourers in Strathspey
than can find adequate employment in the district ; but they are
generally persevering in their search for labour, and, when provi-
sions are moderate, succeed in securing a comfortable livelihood.
The advantages of extended cultivation were well exemplified dur-
ing last year's distress in Strathspey, which, notwithstanding its
large cottar population, contributed to the relief fund, but refused

30 LETTERS FBOM THB HIGHLANDS.

to take any share of its distribution. There is an eager desire
here, as in other parishes I ha?e visited, on the part of the lar
bourers, to have field-gardens allotted them ; and if these are made
just large enough to occupy the surplus industry of a family withr
out seducing the attention of its head frcmi the main element of
their subsistence — daily wages — ^I believe the effect of such ali-
lotments are in every instance highly beneficial to this class of the
people.

In the parish of Cromdale there are two hundred poor persons
on the parochial roll, whose allowances vary from fid. to Is. per
week, which every one must admit to be a very meagre aliments.
Yet loud complaints are made of the assessment, which is at pre-
sent 2s. per pound on land, and 2s. 10 Jd. on house property. The
pate, in each case, is shared equally by the proprietor and tenant.
There can be no doubt that this mode of assessment presses very
unjustly on the latter class ; for, supposing that a small farmer
does produce an income out of his land equal to the rent he pays
to the landlord^ is it to be tolerated that a poor man, extracting
£10 or £20 a-year by hard labour from the soil, shall pay 1^
same amount of tax for the poor as the landlord, who pockets an
equal sum out of the fruits of his toil without any exertion what-
ever P But the grossest injustice of this kind I have yet heard
of is the exemption of sportsmen from assessment for the poon.
Upwards of £2,000 of the rental of Strathspey is paid by this
class> but not a single farthing of poor's mon^ do they pay ; and
I learn that this season it has been seriously proposed to form a
league to resist the payment of assessments for ike poOT to the
last extremity. I am unable to conceive on what groimds this
extraordinary claim for exemption is founded. The sums paid by
sportsmen for liberty to shoot and appropriate game form part of
the rent of land. If game was not separated from the ordinary
produce of the soil, for their use, the land would be worth more
to the farmer, who would consequently pay a larger rent for it^
and be liable for a larger assessment for the poor. Why, there?-
fore, should the poor be deprived of this larger assessment, oit the
poor-rate increased upon aU other classes, for the special conveni^
ence of sportsmen P Game-preserving, by injuring crops, and re-
taining large tracts of land in a state of waste, is one of the
principal sources of pauperism ; and instead of exempting sports-
men from the burden of the poor, it would be more reasonable
and politic to assess them doid)le.

BEATJL7. S9

LETTEB VIIL

Aeaoly— Origin of its Name-^ord Lovat-His Improyeniients— Size of Farms
—Two Extremes— Great Proportion of Small Holdings— Dependence of
Crofters upon Da(v-labottr—Gonfleqaent Depression of Wages— Eflfects of tb«
Potato System— Necessity of increasing the Crofts— Lord Lorat's Deer-
Forest— Attempt to Restore the Prioi^— Betaliation— State of the Chishohu'a
Propeity— Tillage of Beauly.

BsFOKE proceeding to the west coast, I resolved to spend a
day at Beaoly, attracted both by the richness of the connlny and
^be spirited improvements of Lord Lovat. The beauty of this
fertHe district is said to be denoted by its name ; and its name
has been traced, with the usual fondness of local tradition, to no
less a personage than Mary, Queen of Scots. History, ^ I re-
member right, gives no account of a Eoyal visit to Beauly in the
abcteenth century ; but we are left to conjecture that Mary, when
eA Inverness, had taken a gallop over to Beauly during nighty to
inspect the venerable priory, and receive the blessing of the dis-
ciples of St. Bennet. On looking out in the morning £rom the
windows of the priests' house, in which she was entertamed, ihc
Queen was struck with the grandeur of the scene, and very natu-
rally exclaimed, in her familiar French, Cest un beau lieu* Hence
the name Beauly. What«v«r may be thought of the truth of this
tradition, it must be confessed that Beauly is fully worthy of all
i^ honour which it confers upon it. In every sense of lihe term
it is "utt beau lieuJ' A rich and extensive plain in a high state
of cultivation is a rare sight in the Highlands ; and when this is
associated, as at Beauly, with all the grander characteristics of
Highland scenery — ^a winding stream and romantio water-falls,
de^ woods, a spacious frth, and mountains with towering snow-
dad peaks — a spectacle is presented that is as rarely to be met
with in more fanroured regions.

Beauly is in l^e parish of Sihnorack, of whidi Lord Lovat and
the Chisholm are the sole proprietors. The former has also large
possessions in the adjoining pari^es of Kiltarlity and Kirkhill, as
well as in more distimt parts of Invemess-shire. His Lordship
is a vigorou improver, and deeply imbued with those ideas ol
cultivation on wMdi I have so frequently insisted in these letters
on the condititm of the Highlands. He pesceivos that the rents

40 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

of his sheep-farms are stationary, and that on account of the de-
terioration of soil arising from the rapid spread of fog, heather^
and rushes, the probability is that they will ultimately decrease.
As a matter of self-interest, therefore, as well as of public good.
Lord Lovat feels the necessity of introducing a better and im-
proved system. He urges the sheep-farmers to turn their atten-
tion to green crops, both as affording superior feeding to their
stock, and as a means of fertilising the soil. His Lordship made
application for £12,000 under the Drainage Act ; and this sum
has been allowed, under condition that it be all expended in the
course of three years. £1,000 have been laid out during the last
year in improvements in the parish of Kibnorack, and similar
sums in other parts of his Lordship's property. The works will
be prosecuted with the same spirit this year and the next, till the
£12,000 be exhausted. The crofters are sharing the benefits of
this immense loan as well as the large farmers. The crofts in the
neighbourhood of Beauly are ranged along the brow of a hill,
which stretches back into a wide tract of moor. The soil has good
capabilities, though at one time it must have been in a great
measure useless. The poor people, however, are rapidly covering
it with fertility ; and, in walking over their crofts, I observed the
most cheering marks of improvement and progress. In some
places the plough had passed through a field of whins for the first
time ; in others, draining and trenching had just been completed,
and the stones dug up by these operations lay in heaps on the
new land ; and in others, lime had been laid down to stimulate
dead soil into life and productiveness. All wore an air of activity
and enterprise. The tenants pay 6i per cent, for the money laid
out on their holdings, which is the annual payment required from
the proprietor by the Crovemment ; so that Lord Lovat has all
these improvements carried on without any outlay on his part, or
any burden save the personal trouble and risk attending such nu-
merous undertakings. He employs a surveyor in addition to his
factor ; and the improvements are planned and conducted in that
deliberate business-like fashion which scarcely ever fails to ensure
success.

It is a principle of Lord Lovat to have farms of all sizes upon
his estates. His rents, accordingly, vary from 10s. to £1,000. A
very splendid farm in the neighbourhood of Beauly yields a rent
of nearly £1,100 ; and, strange to say, it is not a sheep-walk, but
consists chiefly of rich arable soil, cultivated in the highest order.

BEAULT. <U.

This farm, if divided into two, would, peilu^ be much more use-
foL I do aot say it would be better managed under any arrange-
aent tiian it is at present ; but a fanner paying £500 of rent
would «xeroise as salutary and civilising an influeooe upon society
ai tne paying £1,000, and two such farmers would necessarily
jproduce a much wider and deeper effect upon the habits of the
p^pvktion and the mode of culture. There would also be this
important difference : the labouring-classes would have two em-
ployers instead cf one. The amount of work might not be in-
Ottised, but in the competition oi two employers the labourers
would virtually have a wider range of employment, and a better
ohaaoe of securing adequate remuneration. A tract of deep fer-
tile soil is by no means so common in the Highlands as to afford
to be monopolised; and where it does occur, the proprietor is
doubly bound to make it tell with as mudi power as possible on.
ihe comfort and well-being of society.

Tliere are two things which the Highlands stand specially in
need ol — a more &um^x>us middle-class, and a higher rate of
wages for labour ; and it is obvious that both are retarded by the
e»)essive consolidation of farms, even when these are thoroughly
eultivated.

tToo great amiJgamaiion, and too great subdivision of fums,
are each attended with its own evils ; and Lord Lovat's estate
is not clear of the last any more than of the first of these ex-
tremes. If his Lordship's graduated scale of rents rises too high
in some instances, it also sinks too low in others. The small croft-
ers form three-fourths of the whole population ; and the most
oommoa rents paid by this class are £3 and £4 per annum. Hie
cottars are iK)t so numerous here as on most Highland estates, as
Lord Lovat is averse to giving houses, or stances for houses, with-
out attaching pieces of land to them. The consequence is, that
labourers, tradesmen, and the minority, in short, of all classes, are
occupiers of land, for which they pay, on an average, such rents
as I have mentioned. It is obvious that crofts of this small value
can yield only a fragment of the subsistence of a family. The
holders are therefore dependent on other sources of supped. They
are all obliged to look for something to do besides the manage-
ment of their own land. The unskilled crofter must have day-
labour, and iho mason or the carpenter seeks casual employment
at his trade. This constant hovering of a multitude of crofters
upon the skirts of the labour market widens the range and in-

B 2

43 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

creases the power of the employer; just as the too great enlarge-
ment of farms, on the other hand, contracts the range, and dimi-
nishes the power, of the labourer. Under this double pressure,
the exchangeable value of labour, of course, sinks. The labourer
or the tradesman who has no land finds it almost impossible to
live under such a system. He is pressed down to the lowest
possibility of existence. His competitor — the crofter — ^feels that,
with his cow or two, and his two or three bolls of barley and oat-
meal, he can afford to give his work for smaller wages than he
could live upon, without these appurtenances; and so he either cuts
down the remuneration of the cottar, or cuts him out altogether.
When potatoes were the chief production of the small crofters,
this depression of wages was greater than it is now likely to be ;
but at the same time it was not attended with such fatal results.
A croft laid out in potatoes yielded fully three times more sub-
sistence than it does in oats ; and in proportion as his family were
thus provided for, so much cheaper was the crofter enabled to
sell his surplus labour. The facility with which the cottar also
obtamed a supply of potatoes enabled him to submit to the lower
wages, struck by the competition of the crofters. The deprecia-
tion of labour had thus full scope. There was no force to resist
the downward tendency, and the result was a wretchedness of living
among the population of the Highlands, compared with which, ike
subsistence of savage life is luxury itself.

£ut the potato system had one advantage : under it the people
could not absolutely starve. Their usual stock of potatoes once
secured, the Highland crofters and cottars could bid defiance to
the decline of trade, the fall of wages, and the loss of employment,
so far as the mere support of existence was concerned. Their
position is now very different. It is only by plenty of work and
good wages that they can possibly exist with their present allot-
ments ; and should the abundant employment presently afforded
at Beauly happen some day to cease, I apprehend that with such
a numerous body of small crofters, deriving only a few months*
subsistence from the soil. Lord Lovat would find his position to
be one of difficulty and peril. To give solidity and security to the
social system of the Highlands, it is indispensably- necessary that
the crofter be furnished with land sufficient to occupy his whole
time, and to yield the entire subsistence of his family. The ave-
rage rent of this class ought to be £10, instead of £3 or £4 per
annum. Holders of farms of this extent might occasionally em-

BEAIJLT. 43

ploy labour ; they could seldom offer their own labour for hire.
The labour market would thus be relieved of a dead weight which
oppresses it — labour would rise to something like its proper value
— «iid crofters and cottars be equally elevated in the scale of
oomfort and independence.

I do not pretend that these remarks are necessary for the en-
lightenment of Lord Lovat. Eesiding constantly on his estate,
and devoting his time and attention to the improvement of the
people, it is impossible that his Lordship can be blind to the mea-
sures required in the present exigencies of the Highlands. The
change to which I have alluded, moreover, is one which cannot be
accomplished in a day ; and the present reclamation of the waste
parts of the crofts on Lord Lovat's property is assuredly a step in
the right direction. The enlargement of the crofts is in many
cases a work of considerable difficulty. To dispossess any consider
able number of those who have hitherto occupied small allotments of
land, would be a very unpopular, and, I believe, in the end, a very
impolitic proceeding. It will be much easier to make small farmers
of the present crofters than to provide employment for them, or
dispose of them beneficially in any way without land. The size
of the crofts can only be increased, therefore, by bringing in new
land, which is a work of time ; or by taking a slice off the over-
grown farms, which can only be done at the expiry of leases. Then
again, to raise a crofter from a holding of £3 to one of £10, re-
quires an increase of stock and implements which can only be the
fruit of patient industry and generous economy on the part of
both proprietor and tenant. So vast an improvement cannot be
called into existence by a word or a law. The most we can ex-
pect is, that the policy of the proprietors be directed to this result;
that a beginning be made, and that the work be prosecuted with
Tigour and perseverance to the end.

Lord Lovat, like many Highland proprietors of less merit, has
lately erected part of his estate into a deer-forest. The country
chosen for this purpose is the western extremity of the glens,
which open out towards the east in the rich and fertile plaon of
Beauly. These beautiful retirements were always natural haunts
of the deer ; but it is only within the last few years that Lord
Lovat has turned his attention to the preservation of these ani-
mals, and devoted a range of country to their exclusive use. I
am sorry to find that some other of h^ Lordship's recent proceed-
ings have tended to weaken the public favour, so well merited by

44 LETTERS FROM THB HIGHLANDS.

his agricultoral improvements. Lord Lovat is a Boman Catholic,
and it is natural that he should venerate the rains of the priory.
Bnt the prioiy, like other religions houses, was the property of
Church and ^afce, or to speak less allegorically, of the nation,
though originally founded by a proprietor of Lovat. The nation
determined, at the Eeformation, in what way its prioiy should be
disposed of; and the ground on which t^e building stands, if not
its materials, has since become the prescriptive property of the
parishioners, who have been in the practice, for generations bad^
of burying their dead within its precincts. Heedless of l^ese
considerations, however. Lord Lovat put forth a claim smne while
ago to this ancient structure, and began to repair and extend its
walls, as if it had been his own property. His object, it is said»
was to make a grand new Ex)man Catholic priory of it. Public
zeal was inflamed ; and some, who believed that their rights were
violated by his Lordship's procedure, commenced an action against
him at law. After considerable litigation, and its usual penalty
— expense — his Lordship was obliged to stop his repairs, and
abandon his scheme of Catholic restitution. But Lord Ix)vat took
his revenge. If the Presbyterians would yield nothing to Lord
Lovat's BoHsanism, why should Lord Lovat yield anything to
their Protestantism ? The Pree Church wanted sites for a manse
and a schooL Both were refused, except upon impossiUe condi-
tions — these being, first, that the site for the manse should be
held on a lease for twenty-eight years; and, secondly, that the
schodl should not be opened or closed with prayer. These offers
were of course rejected; and the effect upon his Lordship's po-
pularity, among a Protestant population, may be €^»ily conceived.
It is -with, the best feeling towards Lord Lovat that I allude to
^ese matters, for it is matter of r^ret that his Lordship's influ-
ence should be diminished, and his schemes of improvement re-
tarded, by measures which, witiiout conferring any real benefit
upon himself, are certain to excite opposition and distrust in a
population differing so widely from him in religious belief.

Of the proprietorship of Lord Lovafs neighbour, it is rather
more difficult to speak. The Chisholm is botii good and bad —
the former, it may be, intentionally, the latter unintentionally.
Eents are, peihaps, lower on the Chisholm's property than on any
other estate in the Highlands ; and a dearanoe is an affair from
which that gentleman, I presume, would turn with inteaise aversion.
But the Chijshobn is an absentee^ takes little interest in his people,

BEAULY. 45

and allows tilings to take their course. It is not to be expected,
therefore, that matters can be in the best condition under so very
mild a reign. The Highlands and the Highlanders are not quite
so far advanced in learning yet as to be able to finish their edu-
cation without the aid of a master ; and to let alone is with them
only another phrase for leaving to destruction. Very probably
Lord Lovat's reputation as a "kind landlord" may be many degrees
lower than the Chisholm's ; yet it is a fact, to which I can testify,
that the Chisholm's side of the moor presents far fewer signs of
improvement than his Lordship's. The Chisholm, indeed, has a
wide field for reclamation and improvement ; and as he has applied
for upwards of £3,000, under the Drainage Act, there is some
reason to believe that he is about to turn over a new leaf in land-
lordism. Once smitten with a love of improvement, once tasting
its fruits, it is impossible to tell how far an ardent-hearted High-
land Chief may not go. A productive estate, and the affections
of a grateful people, are surely no bad retreats, even for a man
enamoured of town-life, to repose upon, in a period of commercial
difficulty or when the heats of a London season are exhausted.

The population of the village of Beauly has increased some
hundreds since the census of 184:1. The houses have been almost
entirely rebuilt in that period. The building operations gave
employment, and afforded room for an increased population, and
an influx of strangers was attracted from other localities. The
centres of prosperity are so few in the Highlands, that, when one
arises, it is pretty sure to be inundated with the victims of eject-
ment from less-favoured parts of the country. This immigration
frequently presses very severely on the rising spirit of Highland
towns, though this can scarcely be said in regard to Beauly.
Situated in the centre of a country capable of high cultivation,
surrounded with extensive woods, and washed by a river that is
navigable to goodly-sized vessels to its doors, there are few villages
which possess so many elements of prosperity.

4^ LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

LETTEB TL

County Meeting at Dingwall — The Town Clock— The Scribes and tlie Publicans
^Preliminary Questions— Want of Roads in Oairloch and Lodibroom— Pro-
posals of Ibe Relief Board— The Debate— Tiotoxy of Baster Boss— The Horal.

On tte ^6tli October I had an opportunity of attending a meet-
ing at Dingwall of tiiie Commissioners of Supply of Eoss-Bhirc«
It was the usual half-yearly meeting c^ the county; but it had
been advertised that specid business was to come before the
Commissioners in the form of a proposal from the Central Eelief
Board, in reference t-o the making of certain roads in the districts
of Gairlooh and Lochbroom. I was naturally desirous of leam^
ing the particulars of this proposal, the manner in which it might
be received by the lairds, an! the destitution of roads, and other
necessaries of life, dn the districts to which it referred ; and
mowover, m%ht not a Highland county meeting be -expected, of
adl assemblies in thewrorld, to afford most iaiformation respect-
ing the mysterious soporifics which have kept the TJighlands wink-
ing and dozing in the broad daylight of civilization? To such
rural parliaments are committed the numerous questions affect-
ing the local improvement, organization, and progress of then*
respective districts; and seated therefore, in a meeting of the
gentlemen of EossH^iire, I might expect to find myself thrown at
once into the thick of the battle which iiiese provincial Sdoas
had been waging lor half a century with the barbaiian difBxslties
of a Highland county.

Accordii^ly I repaired to the CoTUHty Hall, not exactly at the
ihne appointed, but a good while after that; for I had observed
that the Dingwall clock was exactly three quarters of an hour be-
hind my Lowland time. How long that cadaverous old time-piece
may have told its fib to the people I cannot say; but it seemed
to me not so inappropriate after all, that the Dingwall clock should
be three quarters of an hour too slow, seeing that the county
was that day to assemble for the purpose of considering whether
they should commence to do certain works which ought to have
been accomplished three quarters of a century ago. One old man
insisted that the slowness of the clock was entirely the effect of
the climate, which, by a curious coincidence, is exactly the same

DINGWALL. 47

nason given by a sheep-farmer for growing those yerj valuable
and remunerative vegetables — ^fog and heather. Town clocks, it
would appear, won't keep time in the Hi^ilands, on the same
pnncij^ as com and turnips are said to refuse to grow. To me
there is something suspicious in the philosophy which deals in
soldi sweeping generalities ; and I am rather disposed to believe
tiuit the slow time of the Dingwall clock is nothing more or less
than a sly sarcasm played ofP against the snail-paced improvement
oi the county by that cunning old wag of a machine.

But to return to the county meeting. Upon entering the hall,
I found about a dozen people assembled, in the middle of whom
a few spirit-dealers and two or three clerks were engaged in a
pseliminary skirmish about certaia forms, which the latter said
ought to have been observed, and the former that they ought not.
It was the old Hebrew contention about the paying of " tithe of
mint^ and anise, and cummin," to the omission of the weightier
matters of the law. The noise of the combatants was increasing
to a rather alarming pitch, when two or three gentlemen of aris-
tocratic appearance entered the room, and taking their seats at
the table, reduced the Babel to more moderate limits. Business
now went on ; and, after a good deal of cross-talking, in course of
which there were seldom more than four or five speaking at a time,
the licenses were renewed, and past differences adjusted, to the
apparent satisfaction of both scribes and publicans.

The meeting, by this time, had received considerable accessions.
The principal esquires, generals, and majors of Bjoss-shire, a few
minora, and several factors, had arrived and taken their places at
the council board. Mr. Davidson, of TuUochj in philabeg and
plaid, at length ascended the rostrum, and formally opened the
proceedings of the day. Preliminary matters, however, had stiU
to be disposed of. Long and grave discussions ensued upon cer-
tain difficult points of law, connected chiefly with the late meal
riots ; whether military brought into one party of a county should
be paid by that part or by the whole; whether the destruction
of a meal cart, by popular violence, is included in the damages
to be recovered from the pubHc; and what the true intent
might be of a certain act of George IV., which seems to have
been passed for the very purpose of enlightening the counties upon
these and other points. Such were a few of the hard, problems
to be solved by a company of gentlemen fresh from the bucolic
and felicities of their country seata^ The change was too

48 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

abrupt, and the task too severe. The opinions of counsel, which
had accumulated in the archives of the county for years, were
read and appealed to in vain. The Commissioners only sank into
a deeper slough of perplexity ; and though their deliberations were
assisted, and might have been safely guided by the sagacious inter-
pretations of Sheriff Cameron, they only saved themselves from an
interminable puzzle by resolving to appoint a small committee to
take the opinion of counsel on the various controverted points,
and report to next half-yearly meeting. Though not a very satis-
factory, this was certainly a more facile termination of the difficulty
than could at one time have been anticipated. And now, thought
I, for the roads ; when up rose a thin-faced gentleman, whom I
learned to be Major Robertson, of Glencalvie notoriety, and, in a
slow and tremulous voice, propounded the following question : —
" Gentlemen, since you have appointed me convener of this com-
mittee, may I ask what the duties of a convener are?" There
was another Gordian knot to be untied ; and immediately the
whole pack of debaters pounced upon it with unwearied zest.
Some contended that a convener was chairman as well as convener,
and others that a convener was simply a convener. It is difficult
to say how deep the collective wisdom of the county might have
floundered amid the nice and abstruse distinctions of this new
controversy, had not a burly chieftain from the retreats of the
west coast, to whom, probably, the opening of a road to within
several miles of his own house was a much more grateful theme
than the precise jurisdiction of Convener Eobertson of Kindeace,
suggested, in a tone of capital raiUery, that the opinion of counsel
might be taken on this point, at the same time as on the other
questions that had been already referred to that tribunal. This
timely stroke of ridicule smashed the question of convenership,
and the noise of the talkers was effectually quenched in a burst
of laughter.

The question of the roads was at length broached. I should
here premise that Gairloch and Lochbroom are two parishes of
inamense size — the former being forty miles long, and, in some
parts, thirty miles broad; while the latter is thirty-six miles long
and twenty broad. Together, they contain a population, according
to the last census, of 9,679. At the period when roads were con-
structed through other parts of the Highlands by grants from the
public treasury, Gairloch and Lochbroom, through some neglect
on the part of the parliamentary commissioners or of the local

DINGWALL. 49

antlionties, were entirely overlooked. Many attempts have since
been made to supply the omission, but always without effect — ^the
magnitode of the work entailing an expense which the local pro-
prietors were either unable or unwilling to undertake. These
wide districts are consequently to this day in nearly as wretched
ft condition with respect to means of communication, as other parts
of the Highlands previous to the military operations occasioned
by the two rebellions. There are literally no means of access from
one point of these parishes to another except such as Nature and
the occasional tread of footsteps have provided. Two roads tra-
yerse the parishes from east to west, by which the villages of
Ullapool in the one, and Poolewe in the other, are connected with
Dingwall ; but these roads can only be reached from the interme-
diate districts by the sea or through the rough passes of the moun-
tains. It may easily be conceived how immensely such a state of
things must retard the improvement and comfort of the popula-
tion. Not only is social intercourse obstructed, but many of the
first necessaries of life can only be obtained by the most painful
and unprofitable drudgery. The people are obliged the whole year
to carry their peats upon their backs from distant and almost inac-
cessible mosses ; and frequent loss of life, as well as perpetual
waste of labour, must be numbered among the injuries entailed
by the impassability of this wide district of country. From docu-
ments read to the meeting on the 26th Oct., it appeared that this
. subject has for some time occupied the attention of the Relief
Board. The construction of roads through so destitute a district
seemed a rational and a beneficial enterprise ; and if, by coming
forward with some pecuniary assistance, the Board could stimulate
the county to undertake the work, relief would be afforded during
winter to the unemployed men on the west coast, and a founda-
tion be laid at the same time for permanent improvement. The
project was warmly seconded by the proprietors of the district in
which the roads were required ; and definite propositions were
accordingly prepared. It was proposed that four roads should be
' made, embracing a total length of 40 miles. The cost was esti-
mated at £5,000. Of this sum the Board screed to pay one-third,
leaving with the county the respons3)ility of supplying the other
two-thirds. The local supporters of the measure had arranged
that the proprietors of Gairloch and Lochbroom should contribute
one of these thirds, and that the other should be levied upon the
general property of the county. Such was the form in which the

£

50 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

proposition was submitted to the meeting of commissioners ; and
the various letters and documents being disposed of, the discus-
sion commenced with a formality which intimated what could
scarcely hare been anticipated — opposition.

Tulloch, as chairman of the meeting, spoke first. He sup-
ported the proposition on the grounds of justice, humanity, and
policy. The proprietors of Gairloch and Lochbroom had long
borne their share of the county taxes, while their peculiar con-
dition with respect to roads had deprived them of a due participa-
tion in their advantages. The want of means of communication
exposed the people of these parishes to the most pitiful calamities.
Patients frequently perished before medical aid could be brought
to their bed-sides in so inaccessible a country. And the labour-
ing classes were threatened during winter with severe privations.
Their store of potatoes would be exhausted before Christmas.
The com crops had been vitaUy injured by heavy rains ; they
yielded plenty of straw but very little good food. "Would it not
be an act of charity to extend to people so situated the means
of employment and subsistence? Such a course would be advan-
tageous to themselves, as well as just and humane to others. The
opening up of an extensive district by means of good roads would
enrich the county at large; and, after the discussions they had been
engaged in that day, on the subject of meal riots, he need not re-
mind them that the peace and good order which abundant employ-
ment was the best means of preserving throughout the county,
were advantages in which all would participate. Such were the
cogent arguments by which Tulloch enforced the acceptance of the
overtures made by the Relief Board, and on which he expatiated
with a fervour which his small proprietary interest in the districts
could not deprive of its claim to disinterestedness.

Dundonell followed. He described himself as the only resi-
dent heritor on the west coast. No one could doubt his com-
petence to speak of the deplorable condition of that district. The
people, he said, were exceedingly peaceable; but they had no mo-
tives to exertion — they had no law — and no access to churches
or schools. A population of 1 , 400 in his own neighbourhood were
absolutely without the means of education. There was no road
within many miles of his own house. The potato crop was al-
ready gone. It had entirely failed during the last three weeks;
and a calamity of this kind was rendered doubly severe, because
the people could not supply themselves with cheap meal for want

DINGWALL. 51

«( thfc usual means of commumcation. The speaker concluded by
» strong appeal to the pity and humanity of the meeting.

Dr. M'Kenzie of Eilaneach, who is carrying on some interest-
ing experiments among the small crofters in Gairloch, said a few
words on the same side, enforcing the adoption of the scheme
chiefly on the ground of its expediency.

Now came the time for the opposite side to speak out. Who
could they possibly be ? I had begun by tliis time to observe
that the gentlemen who occupied the east end of the table gene-
rally took one view of a question, while those at the west end
stood by another. These were the gentlemen respectively of
Easter and Wester Ross — in short, the Grovemment and the Op-
position, the ins and the outs, of this grand county palaver. From
Easter Eoss, of course, proceeded the opposition to the subsidy
for the construction of the roads. The gentlemen of this party
live on the east coast ; but Gairloch and Lochbroom lie upon the
west coast. What possible interest, therefore, could they have
in making roads so far away from their own doors ? The same
gentlemen, be it remembered, were urging a few minutes before,
with great vehemence, that the rations served out to the military
who had been called in to preserve the peace of their district,
ought to be paid for out of the common purse of the county. But
the main strength of their cause consisted in a huge document of
figures and statistical calculations, an attempt to read which nearly
emptied the hall, and completely broke down the voice of a rather
asthmatic gentleman on whom the task vras very cruelly inflicted.
It was almost impossible to catch the import of the few pages of
this monsta: paper that were read ; but my impression is, that it
was an elaborate attempt to show how much Easter Ross has paid
for road-making from somewhere about the commencement of the
post-diluvian era down to the present day. The sum total, cal-
culated at compound interest, I have no doubt, is very incredible;
and in the hands, or rather in the mouth, of a more stentorian
orator, it might have produced a very lively sensation. As it
was, its effect was completely lost ; and whatever they might do
at the division, it was impossible not to feel that Easter Ross had
been beaten hollow in argument.

The rival parties now came to close quarters. They wrote out
and tabled their motions as a pair of draught-players push forward
their last men. The closing scene was at hand. Tulloch pro-
posed, in substance, that that meeting recommend the heritors of

52 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

the county to assess themselves to the amonnt of £1,600, and that
this sum discharge all claims upon them for the roads to be con-
structed in Gairloch and Lochbroom. To this the Easter Ross
gentlemen opposed a direct n^ative ; and on the list being read
over and the votes recorded, they were declared victorious by a
majority of four. Thus fared the generous offer of the Relief Board
— ^thus fell the high hopes of Gairloch and Lochbroom.

I have heard but one opinion in the district of the result of
this meeting, and it is one of umningled censure of the shabby and
selfish course adopted by the heritors of Easter Ross. The vote
of these Ross-shire gentlemen exhibits clearly what a difficult
task awaits the Relief Board in its negotiations with the High-
land lairds, and how careful it would need to be in the schemes
adopted for the expenditure of its remaining fimds. There can
be no doubt, that hitherto the distribution of these funds, though
it has been the means of saving numerous lives, has relieved the
Highland proprietors of responsibilities which ought justly and
le^illy to have been borne by them ; and a distribution on the
same principles for the future will be characterised by the same
general effect. Better, I would almost say, that a few hundred
people should starve, than that these men should be encouraged
in their cold indifference and open hostility to the duties which
divine and human law have equally attached to their position.
The valued rental of Ross-shire, exclusive of Ganrloch and Loch-
broom, may be set down in round figures at £150,000. To raise
the sum of £1,600, therefore, would only have entailed a tax of
24d. per pound upon the heritors of Ross-shire ; yet, rather than
pay this trifling cess, a majority of them resolved to sweep the
bread out of the mouths of hundreds of their fellow-creatures,
and to consign to helpless barbarism a large portion of their own
county and their own kinsmen. This Ross-shire meeting is full
of meaning. Li that petty feud between Easter and Wester Ross,
that incompetence for business, that ceaseless appealing to the
opinions of counsel, that want of spirit, that unwillingness to
sacrifice for the public good, that deafiiess to the claims of duty
and the appeals of justice, so conspicuous in the proceedings of
this county meeting, we have the true secret of Highland poverty
and destitution.

I.OCH0ABBOK. S3

LETTER X.

Kilcleod's Stage Coach— Scenery of WestHighlands— Lochcarron— ClubTenanta
—Their Condition— Imperfect System of Farmii^g— Necessity for New Offices
and Inclosures— The Two Parties— Improvement in the Management of
8lie«p Stock— An In&rence — Sheep Farms of Tullach and New Kelso.

Thii^ks to Macleod of Macleod, tlie journey from tlie east
to the west coast, through the moors and mountams of Ex)ss-
shire, is much easier and more expeditious than the porer over
maps and guide-books could anticipate. This gentleman runs a
handsome stage-coaeh, three times a-week, from Inverness to the
gates of his own castle at Dunvegan; and, except when boisterous
weather obstructs the passage of the ferries between Skye and the
Hudnland, this long journey of 144i miles is accomplished in little
more than twenty hours. Taking a seat at Dingwall in this ad-
HiiraUe conveyance, I was carried with unexpected rapidity to
what, properly speaking, are the distressed districts of the Iligh-
knds. Our route lay through Strathpeffer, famous for its mine-
ral waters; and Strathgarve and Strathbran, remarkable for
nothing that I could learn, save the bleakness of their scenery
and the scantiness of their population. As you approach the west
coast, the aspect of the country becomes more thoroughly High-
land. The valleys grow narrower and deeper — ^the mountains
higher, rounder, and more verdant. Wide sweeping corries, the
misty recesses of which are the homes of the red deer, straggling
remains of pine forests, trackless ravines, worn in the mountain's
side by the rain and the tempest, and water-courses innumerable,
that alternately dwindle into rills and swell into cataracts, are the
principal characteristics of this Alpine territory. The road passes
along the edge of quiet lochs, that are fringed with considerable
tracts of fertile, but sadly-neglected soiL To the neighbourhood
of Loch Doule, in particular, I would call the attention of Apple-
cross, the proprietor, and of the Central Relief Board, as a spot
where hundreds of good acres are entirely wasted, and where
a judicious outlay in draining and trenching would be certain to
yield the most valuable returns. All along, indeed, from this point
to the shores of Lochcarron, there is a hffge extent of reclaimable
soil, for which the hand of art has hitherto done as little as for
the most unoccupied wastes of Australia.

£ 2

54 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

The district to which I am alluding is rented partly by small
club-tenants, and partly by large sheep-farmers. The former pay
from £10 to £15 of rent each ; and, in addition to their arable
land, have a goodly stock of cows and sheep. Only one, I believe,
of these club-tenants found it necessary to ask assistance from the
Relief Fund last season, and that one had been reduced by sick-
ness and other misfortunes to a state of great poverty. The club-
tenants are everywhere a much more substantial class than the
crofters, their stock forming a resource on which they can fall
back in a period of calamity. But it needs but a single glance
at their system of fanning to see that they are far from being so
comfortable as their means and opportunities might make them.
Tfheir great object is to wring as much com crop from their farm
as possible, by which they expect two advantages — oatmeal for
their families, and straw for the cattle during winter. But every-
body knows that cows cannot milk well if fed upon dry straw ;
and as they are kept roaming over the hill for pasture during a
great part of the year, their manure is also lost, so that the people
have not the necessary means of recruiting the soil, impoverished
by the com crops on which they place so much value. These
crops are frequently so poor as to yield little more than the seed ;
but even with this miserable return the people are not altogether
dissatisfied, providing that the yield of straw is sufficient to carry
their cattle over winter. It is evident, therefore, that this sys-
tem fails in supplying the families with meal, which is one object
of it ; and though it provides straw, which is another, yet this is
such inferior feeding for cows that it is impossible they can thrive,
or yield the amount of produce which they would do if well fed.
If these club-tenants were prevailed upon to lay out folly one-half
of their arable land yearly in clover, turnips, rape, vetches, and
cabbages, they would, in the first place, have crops more suitable
to their climate than white crop ; in the second place, they would
have an abundance of good juicy food for their cows the whole
year, without turning them out to the hill at aU, except for a
short airing ; in the third place, the cows being fed in the house,
and the straw which they formerly ate, but would now lie down
upon, being permitted to go to the dung-heap, an abundance
of manure would be provided to keep the land in good heart, the
effect of which would be, that the smaller breadth of soil sown
with white crop would yield a larger supply of better meal than
is obtained under the present system ; and in the fourth place,

LOCHCARBON. 55

tlie COWS, well fed and warmly bedded, would be a great deal
more productive of milk aud butter. The superiority of this sys-
tem is so obvious, has been so frequently tested, and is so well
understood, that it may well be wondered why the Highland pro-
prietors have not long ere this introduced it upon their estates.
The matter is certainly a little mysterious; but listen, good
reader, and I will tell you my version of the story. Before this
system could be adopted, a good stone dyke would need to be built
between the hill and the arable part of the farms, fences would
also need to be erected between each of the tenants' lots, and each
lot would require to be separated by another fence into at least
two divisions. Moreover, better houses would have to be erected
for the reception of the cows than many of the people have at
present for themselves. But new cow-houses, and new dykes and
fences, cannot be built without money, and money is a commodity
in which Highland lairds happen to be scarce, most of them re-
quiring all' they can get, and sometimes a deal more than they can
get, for certain patriotic purposes, such as election contests, deer-
forests, residence in town during " the season," and many other
items equally necessary for the honour and glory of the chiefdoms.
If you could rid the Highland lairds of these cruel burdens, you
might have new cow-houses, new inclosures, a new system, and a
new era ; but while these are permitted to swallow up the rental,
things must remain in statu quo. It is here where the real diffi-
culty Hes. To accuse the prejudices and the slothfulness of the
people, is to display much ignorance of the question. It is true,
the people know very little about your green-cropping, your house-
feeding, and manure-making. They speak the Gaelic, and do not
understand Professor Johnston's lectures, whether delivered from
the platform or through the pages of the Agricultural Journal.
They are not inspired men. They cannot drink in agricultural
theories from the clouds. A few of them, indeed, are said to have
the second sight ; but these are a very limited number. For the
great body of the Highlanders, as for the great body of mankind,
there is no royal road to knowledge. And even supposing that these
poor Gaelic-speaking farmers were as deeply versed in the mys-
teries of agriculture as the most ardent improver could desire, still
it would be impossible for them to move a step out of their old ways
without the buildings and inclosures to which I have alluded.

In these Highland townships there are two conflicting parties
at work — ^the party of the old men, and the party of the young

56 LETTERS FROM THE HIOHLANDS.

men. In an agricultural sense, tlie former are conservative, while
the latter are revolutionary. The old men cling rigidly to the old
system of cattle-rearing ; whereas, the young men are for dimi-
nishing the number of cattle and increasing the stock of sheep.
A great deal must depend on the nature of the pasture, and I
do not say but the old men may occasionally be right ; but the
odds are certainly in favour of the sheep. Now, observe what a
sheep-farmer in this district, who certainly has no high opinion of
the Celtic character, confesses in reference to the progress made
by the club-tenants of Lochcarron. He admits that a great im-
provement has lately taken place in the management of their stock.
They both keep a greater number of sheep, and tend what they
have a great deal more judiciously. Formerly they used to hunt
this part of their stock with dogs to the tops of the highest hills,
where great numbers perished of cold and hunger. Now, how-
ever, there is a shepherd on every farm, " and I cannot say," quoth
the grazier, " but their sheep stock is every bit as well managed
as my own." Now, what does this prove but that, notwithstand-
ing the proverbial influence of the patriarchs in Celtic society, the
young men, " the new generation," as Mr. D'Israeli would call
them, are nevertheless making steady advances against old preju-
dices and old foUies, and that in the Highlands, as elsewhere, there
is a vigorous element of improvabiHty struggling for development.
The matter is easily explained. The graziers of the south have
gone in among these people, and, so far as the management of
sheep is concerned, have shown them the best possible example.
The young Celts have mingled with their shepherds, and imbibed
the new ideas ; while to the duller sense of the old Highlanders,
the superiority of the new system has been exhibited in the sub-
stantial returns of the wool and flesh markets. It is not in human
nature, whether Saxon, Celtic, or Hindoo, to resist a demonstra-
tion of this kind ; and, accordingly, the prejudices of the club-
tenants of Lochcarron have given way, and the change for the
better has taken place. Will any person say that the same process
which has succeeded in effecting this improvement in the manage-
ment of sheep-stock, would not be equally successful in producing
a still more salutary change in the mode of keeping cows, and of
cropping and manuring the soil ? There can be no doubt on this
point ; but the evil is, that the process is never applied in this direc-
tion. The graziers, though excellent teachers of sheep-rearing, are
^^e worst possible instructors in every other branch of husbandry.

LOCHCARRON. 67

In reclaiming waste or cultivating good land, in growing crops,
whether green or white, in feeding cows, or in husbanding manure,
in weeding or in draining — in every operation requiring patience,
capital, and labour, the sheep-farmers are as slovenly, as lazy, and
as unskilled, as the poorest and most intractable Celts can pos-
sibly be. Their monopoly of the soil, moreover, prevents the rise
of a more enterprising and energetic class of large farmers ; and
agricultural industry is stationary because there is no experimen-
turn cruets, or no pioneers to lead the way.

Tullach and New Kelso are the names of the two principal sheep-
farms on Lochcarron. The latter was at one time the seat of a
factory originated by Government after the Rebellion for the pur-
pose of employing and pacifying the people. A manager was
brought to it from Kelso, and hence it was called New Kelso.
The undertaking, however, did not prosper, and no vestige now
remains of this intended seat of trade but the name. The tacks-
man of Tullach takes considerable credit for covering many parts
of his farm with grass, which were black and heathy when he came
to it. This has been done by shaking a quantity of shell-sand over
the soil — a material which answers all the purposes of lime, and
which is carried in herring-boats a distance of twenty or thirty miles
by the Janetown crofters for 10s. per boat-load. A field was also
drained on this farm last season, and was sown with turnips, but at
too late a period to secure a good crop. The tacksman has no hope,
and apparently no desire, of making arable land out of any part
of his farm, but his neighbour in New Kelso seems to have a dif-
ferent opinion. A contractor and a few labourers are at present
employed in trenching and draining parts of his land, and it may
be presumed that cultivation wiU here, at aU events, have a fair
trial. Both of these gentlemen send their hogs every winter to
the east coast — ^a distance of 80 and 90 miles — to turnip feeding.
This costs Tullach alone an expense of from £200 to £250 annually.
Every acre of turnips grown at home would save a part of this
outlay to the farmer, and at the same time afford employment and
subsistence to the people.

A little beyond the farm-houses of New Kelso and Tullach, you
pass in succession the parish-church, the burying-ground, and the
manse ; and rounding a comer, there before you, close along the
edge of the Loch, stands the fishing village of Janetown, its nu-
merous and wretched population requiring more deliberate notice
than can be given at the fag-end of a letter.

58 LETIEBS FBOU THE HIOHLANDS.

LETTEE XL

Village of Janetown — Size and Produce of Lota— FaQure of the Herring-Fishiiig
—Danger of Famine— Population Facts.

Janetown consists of a single row, fully a mile long, of mean-
looking cottages. A large inn bearing the Mackenzie Arms, and
liaving for its Boniface the biggest and joUiest Highlandman I
have ever seen, is apt to give you an inflated opinion of the com-
fort and importance of the city into which you have entered ; but
walking a few paces round the comer, that long monotony of
miserable hovels speedily informs you of your whereabouts. One
or two houses occupied as shops, and a few cottages with larger
windows and whiter and higher walls than the rest, bespeak a de-
gree of tolerable comfort ; but, with these exceptions, the entire
village presents the same low level of poverty and wretchedness.
And the tattered garments and wan faces of the children that
dabble about the shore, and of the women, that cast half-frightened
glances at you past the dirty rags stuffed in the broken windows,
are quite in keeping with the miserable aspect of the dwellings.
You are at no loss to perceive that famine has been at work upon
those shrivelled forms, and that the life to which they have been
doomed is one of hardship and privation even at the best.

The land attached to the vill^e of Janetown consists of thirty-
four lots, paying a rent of £4 per annum each. Each of these
lots has a grazing for two cow's, and when the arable part is laid
out in com crops, as it was ahnost entirely this year, yields about
four bolls "of meal. This meal and the produce of the cows, after
deducting rent, constitutes the whole subsistence derived from
land by a villager in possession of a full lot. But the lots have
been greatly subdivided; and a large proportion of the popula-
tion have no holdings of any size. Of forty-seven families whom
I visited, twenty-two occupied full lots, five had half lots, eight
occupied patches for which they paid 30s., one paid 9s., and eleven
had no land of any extent. Those who have half-lots usuaEy
keep one cow each; but many of those occupying smaller portions
have no privilege of grazing, and if they keep a cow, require to
pay the letters for her admittance to the common. The lotters

JANETOWN. 59

m fonner years usually planted from six to ten barrels of potatoes.
This year they planted about half-a-barrel each, and of these they
have only been able to make partial use on account of the rava-
ges of the disease. Prom these facts the reader will perceive the
amount of subsistence which the people of Janetown derive this
year from the soil ; and meagre as this is, I am sorry to say that
the other great source of their maintenance — ^herring-fishing — had,
up to the period of my visit, been still more unproductive and un-
promising. Each of the lotters generally owns a fishing-boat, which
is manned by two of the smaller occupiers, or those having no land,
besides himself. The largest fishing I have heard of is two barrels
to one of these boats ; and of this I know of only one instance.
Some fishermen have 200 herrings each, some have 100, and others
have consumed all that they have caught. The fishing continues
in this quarter till Christmas, and the people appear to have some
hope that the herrings will yet visit the Loch, and that they may
still be able, seeing that the fish bring a good price this year, to
retrieve the bad success which has hitherto Befallen them. I hope
it may be so ; but, in the meantime, their prospect of remunera-
tion from the herring-fishing is anything but encouraging.

The young men go to the east coast fishing during the months
of July and August, and, after paying expenses, usually bring
home £7 10s. each. Even this resource has comparatively failed
this year, and many who agreed to take payment according to the
quantity of fish they caught, instead of hiring their services, as a
few did, for a fixed wage of £6, have returned nearly as poor as
they went.

From these facts the condition of the people of Janetown dur-
ing winter and spring may be easily conjectured. Poor in all
seasons, they are totally unprepared for the calamities of this year.
Some families spent £20 last year for meal, but that heavy drain
exhausted the savings of years. No similar resource remains to
meet the new pressure, and unless the herring-fishing take a
favourable turn or employment at fair wages be opened up without
delay, it is plain that, long before another harvest, the population
of this village will be struggling with famine.

I found that nineteen married couples in Janetown have sixty-
two children in all, being a little more than three on an average
to each couple. All had children except two ; two had seven
children each ; and two had six each. I also found that fifteen
unmarried men were the main support of aged or widowed parents

60 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

as well as of their sisters and younger brothers. I visited one
fanuly consisting of twelve brothers and sisters, without father
or mother. Two of the boys are dumb, and so also are two of
the girls. This family has two fishing-boats, and a lot of land ;
and, judging from external appearances, I would say they form one
of the most industrious and comfortable households in the village.
Though there has been the same consolidation of farms in Loch-
carron as in other Highland parishes, the population has increased
during the present century. This is attributed in the statistical
account of the parish to " the division of land into lots." The
people ejected from the glens were permitted to squat along the
margin of the Loch, which, in the palmy days of the herring-fish-
ing, offered a convenient means of subsistence. Janetown, from
a nucleus of three families, has risen rapidly to a population of
five or six hundred souls.

LETTEE XII.

Distribution of Relief— Defects of the System— Requisite Amendments— The
Foor-Law— A Case of Improvement under the Drainage Act — Loss to the Pro-
prietor, and the Reason— A Successful Employer of Highland Labour.

The relief transmitted to Lochcarron during the recent distress,
as nearly as I can gather from the reports of the Central Relief
Board, amounts to 875 bolls of oat, Indian, and wheat meal. I
have endeavoured to discover the system on which these supplies
were distributed; and, from the complicated and contradictory ex-
planations given by those best quaMed to know, I am convinced
that very considerable confusion, and a great deal of wrong prin-
ciple, have reigned over the relief proceedings in this quarter.
Grenerally speaking, the order of the Central Board to exact work
for relief was enforced by the local committee. An able-bodied
man was allowed 7 fts. of meal for a day's work ; and as most of
the men had families to provide for besides themselves, they were
restricted to a certain quantity of meal per week, which seems,
at one time, to have been 14 ibs., and, at another, 10 ibs. The
women were restricted to 5 fts. a-week each, and children to
smaller quantities, according to their ages. The people were

LOCHCARliON.

^1

thus limited bott in their work and in their allowance of food ;
vhile upon tke local committee devolved the onerous and invidt-
pns task of j^auE^inr^ the gastronQniicid capabilities of faniilicsi, and
of resolving hours of labour into pounds of meaL Along with tlicse
•rrangenients for the local distribution of relief, ev<iry effort was
jnade to prevail upon the yoang and able-bodied to seek cm-
ployment m the south, and considerable numbers availed them-
»elvca of Ihc facilities afforded for tMs pttrpose* These drafts
thinned the ranks of the dependents upon the Eelief Board of all
the ablest and liest workers, w\\i\q it left thetn burdened with the
iialt, the maimed, and the weak. Efficient iahouj was not to be
expect^ed from this class under aaiy systenij but still less nnder^the
pauperise*! and pauixrismg system of the tielief Board. The weekly
dole of meal wore aU tlie appearance, and had all the effect, of a
charily allowance. On the one liandj the people felt it to be really
and truly a gift ; while, upon the other, the oonimittee were pos-
sessed with the idea tkit the exaction of labour was a pretcuoc.
The fonner did thctr duty reluctantly, and the latter were slovenly
in discharging theirs. Moreover, the meal was actually nnsuit-
Able. It preserved bfe^ but it iDjiured health. A perpetual roniui
of gniel to people who had been accustouied with a vegetable diet,
was not only badjy adapteii to enable men to VrT>rk well, but it
told with injurious effect upon th^ir constitutions, and engendered
severe maladies. The spi^ead of disease aggravated all tJie evihi
inherent in tlie disposition of the people, the negligence of liie
(Committee, or the syst^em of relief. No one M^ork was done vigor-
x>usly, none was done well, and none was completed. The pcoj>lc
^'crc set to improve their crofts, but I cannot iiiid one croft tliat
-con be said to be in a good crop-bearing condition. Their atten-
tion wtifi next turned to tlie erection of a pier^ but no further pro-
gnisa has been made in this vci-y necessary undertaking than the
laying down of a few heaps of loose stones withui tidc-nmrk, where
they will be rapidly scattered by the suigCj or appropriated to other
purposes.

I do not int^aad by ilie«e observations to east any reflect ions
upon the Central lie lief Board, or upon the local committee of
Lo^'hcarron. They were suddenly called upon Ui deal with a fa-
mine, and they are entitled to lenient judgmeuta if, in the hni'ry
and novelty of tlie emergency, their proceedings were not cliarac-
teriscd with all the ^'isdom and foresight that are desirable. It is
entirely with a view to the roetihcatioii of futuie operations tlial

62 LETTERS FROM THE HIOHLANDS.

I poiiit out the errors of the past. All idea of distributing relief
in the form of meal ought to be immediately abandoned. This
system is unprofitable to the givers, and degrading to the receivers.
Let the people be employed at fair living wages, and they will bay
food for themselves infinitely better than any Board can supply
them with it. In districts where the ordinary means of purchase
and sale are deficient, or where the provision trade is monopolised,
it might be advisable to open a store for the sale of articles of
food ; but such a concern should be kept entirely distinct from
the employment department. Let it be remembered that it is with
able-bodied men that the Board has to do. The Poor-law gives a
right to " needful sustentation" to all " poor, aged, sick, and im-
potent persons ;" and in parishes where this beneficent regulation
has not taken effect, it ought to be enforced. There is still no as-
sessment in Lochcarron. A destitute person, if a female, gets a
stone of meal in the four weeks, and if a male, a stone in the three
weeks. The whole sum expended on the poor from the 1st Febru-
ary, 1845, to 1st February, 1846, was £20 12s., in a parish with a
population of 1,960, and yielding £2,889 5s. lid. of annual rent
It is impossible to distribute meal in such a parish without lite-
rally putting the contributions of the public into the pockets of the
heritors. The Board has therefore an important duty to discharge
in relation to the Poor-law. A total separation must be made be-
tween those entitled to parochial relief and those who need nothing
but remunerative employment. The Board must exert itself to
place the burden of the former upon the proper parties; and should
its representations on this subject to the parochial boards, and the
Central Board of Supervision, fail in producing the desired effect,
let the poor then be fed by it, and the expense of doing so re-
covered from the parishes, as it can be, and has been recovered, in
similar cases, in the courts of law. No false delicacy should re-
strain the Board from these indispensable measures. They have
a fund to spend, and a work to do, for the manner of spending
and doing which they are responsible to the public ; and if there
be any agents of the Highland lairds in their number who cannot
agree, in consistency with the interests of their cHents, to mea-
sures essential to prevent the misappropriation of the public con-
tributions, and to secure the admmistration of one of the most
important laws of the country, an ordinary sense of propriety, I
should think, will be sufficient to teach such persons that it is
their duty either to be silent or to retire. The infirm and dis-

LOCHCAHIION,

63

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I

abled poor thus provided for, the path of the Board will be clear.
" A fair day's wage for a fair day's work" need then be its only
motto, and its only conceni. The more closely the Board assimics
the character and position of an orduiafy employer of labour, its
operations will become the ejisier arid more satisfactory to itsell^
while they wiU ceaae to be injurious, and become wholly beneficial
to the Higlilanders, But to be a successful employer of labour,
the Board must nse the same means as other employers of labour.
Profitable undertakings must be dili^ntly sought for and wlsel^v
planned. Costs must be counted and terms adjusted. Inspector
must be appointed^ contractors engaged, and labourers organised.
All these preliminary steps ore necessary to secure a successful
speculation; and they are equally nfecessary to secure the efficiency
of future relief operations in the Highlands,

The following case is narrated to me as an example of the diffi-
culties which attend the employment of the Higliland people. Mr,
Mackens&ie, of Applecross, is a borrower nnder the Drainage Act,
He proposed to one of the sheep-farmers, in the course of last
BcasoUj to drain a certain field of his with part of the Government
money, The grazier, of eoursCj had no particular desire to manu-
facture arable land ; but, in consideration of the dislxess of tluj
people, he at last consented to go into the undertaking on these
conditions : tliat he should have nothing to do with the execution
of the works, that Appleeross should employ and pay the labourers,
that a regular valuation should he made of the improyemcnt after
it was finislied, and that he should he only charged 5 per cent, on
the amount so valued. Even supposing that the valuation turned
out equal to the cost of improvement, Appleeross would still be a
loser, for he was obliged to pay 6^ per cent, to the Govcrmnent.
It is nsual, in sindkr cases, for the tenant to pay 6^ per cent,
upon the expenditiu« ; but in this instance the tenant was able to
get off with 5 per cent., and that not upon the expenditure, but
on the valued worth of the improvement. That is the way in which
the sheep-fanners bargatu with the lairds. However, it was not
a time to higgle ; the people were starving ; and so the work com-
menced. It was agreed by the factor that the labourers should be
supphcd with Is, worth of meal per day. Tliis was thought to
be the minimum vdue of their hibour, and any balance hi their
favour coidd be handed over to them at the end of the job. At
length the works were finished, and one of the Government in-
spectors was brought to value them. To make the concern as

$4^ LETTERS mOM THE BTOIILAND8.

good as possible to the poor pcopk in so severe a year, the factor
prevailed on the fanner to allow the drains to he i^ned at Is. per
loody instead of lO^d., the nsiud rate. The vahialion was accord-
ingly struck at £97 ; and, to the amaaement of the factor, it wa»
£3und that, while rowing these £97 worth of drams^ the bk)xirer»
iad consiuned in meal £240, some odd shilMngs !

This is a crack story lor those who harj^ on the incnraMe lazi-
ness and impracticability of the Highlanders ; bat I ex.traet a very
different moral from it. There was a great fault, in the first place,
on the part of the overseer. He was warned ta keep the people
working in small conpanies or sqoadis ; and white he (Ainerved thisi
Tftle, the work went on as well as conld be wished, and the workers
were observed to earn Is. 6d. a-da(y. Bat gradoaUy he allowed
the ranks to fall into eonfuaioD ; the labourers got crowded to-
gether on one spot, and every man hindered his neighbour. And,
in the second place, there was a faah on the part of the proprietor
and his factor, neither of whom was on the spot to correet this
mischief when il began. When a proprietor chooses to he an
absentee, one might natmraDy expect that he would take care to>
place a competent agricnlturist ob his property to act in his sfead ;
but even tins very ordinary precaution is one which the Highland
absentees s^dom observe. A sheep-fanner and factor on an ex-
tensive estate in Skye acts also as Victor in Loehearron. A finite
being, even though a Highland grazier, eannot attend to sheep in
the islands, and look after men on the mainland at once ; and so
the Loehearron labourers a^e meal and idled away their time, while
their emjdoyer and his agent were engaged, perhaps not much
more profitably, somewhere else. I ask any Lowland farmer, if he
were to pick ont the best labourers in a conntiy-side, and set them
t6 do a piece of work with an inocmipetent foreman at their head,
and leave them to do exactly as they pleased, what other result
would he expect than jnst such a one as happened in this case — •
a large eating of meal and a veiy smaU perfermanee of work. A
different system is pursued on the farm a^(miiBg that on which
this exploit occurred. Brains are there made by contract, and the
contractor, who cannot afford to throw away meal improfitably,
works himself at the head of a^ small body of men, whom he can
thoroughly manage and oversee. When his labourers are disposed
to waste their time in foolish talking, or in nonsense of any kind,
he treats them to a qniet lecture on his own experience. He teUs
^em that he has been trained to kbonr hard from his boyhood.

LOcncAiuioy.

55

that lie knowa wliat a day's work is, that Iir does a day*s work
him&elf, that he requires them to do no more tlian he does, aud that
though he canuot permit idling during work hours, yet when these
arc overj lie will have no ohjectiou to talk, sing, tell a story, or
play the fiddle with the best of them. And ho keeps his woid,
for wheu the pick and the shovel are kid aside, he revives the
wearied spirits of his men with the strains of his violin. There
are no complaints in this case. It is true that the Highlaudcra
are not yet thoroughly formed to habits of industry, and on this
account require greater iaet and management than more experi-
enced labourers ; but tliat there is any natural spirit of laziness
adhering lo them is a palpable fiction, contrived to conceal tlte
iucoinpctence of the hdrds, the neghgence of agents, and the de-
populating' designs of the sheep-fanners.

LETTEE Xm.

I

■ ConstHuticm of Relief Commltteeft— Elpments of nigliland Socirty—Two Clnaiufl

■ — Bifflcaky of Ui-ganiRing a lyical Relief Aganey— Oaptiia EJliota ReTolutkin

■ — Its Efleotft— Future Belief Meaaures for LocbcBrron.

I

■ mit
I We

I tim(

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I

TtiB change that was made in the constitution of the relief com*
mittce of Lochcarron, by Captain Elliot, during his tour through
Wester Eoss in May last, is worthy of some notice ; and the more
especially as a similar proceeding was adopted about the same
timCj both by that gentleman and Dr, Boy tor in other districts.
I have no doubt that the same general features characterise all the
cases ; but the remarks I am about to make are founded upon my
obser^^ations and inqidries in Lochcarron, and must be understooil
as having a special reference to that parish.

To understand the matter well, it is necessary to keep in mind
the peculiar construction of Kigliland society, the classes of which
it consists, and the principles ^md objects with which these classes
arc respectively actuated. Here in Lochcarron there arc only two
ranks of people — a higher rank and a lower rank— the former
consisting of a few large tenants all occupy in g^ netirly the sauie
level ; and the latter consisting of a dense body of small letters
and fishermen^ all etiuaily uniform in tbeii ciicumstanccs and con-

7 2

^(b LETTERS FROM THE HIGIILANDS.

dition. The one class has wealth on its side, the other class has
numhers. The proverbial enmity of rich and poor in all societies
has received pecoliar development in this simple social stmctnre
of the Highlanda. The clearances laid the foundation of a bitter
animosity between the sheep-farmers and the lotters ; and as these
violent changes were executed by the authority of the lairds,
they also snapped the tie which had previously, amid all reverses,
united the people and their chiefs. One link still bound the ex-
tremities of society in formal, if not in spiritual, union. The parish
church was a common centre where all classes met ; and though
the minister was frequently a nominee and a partisan of the kird,
he could not but regard the victims of the elearances as a portion
of his flock, and extend to them the amenities of his office. But
even religion, " the source of all comfort,** was converted at the
Disruption into a new fountain of bitterness. The social wrongs
of the lower class inclined their minds to the doctrine of non-in-
trusion ; and when the crisis came, the instantaneous unanimity
with which this class turned their backs upon the Establishment,
showed with what ease they could rend the last badge which re-
commended them to the smile and the sympathy of their superiors.
The parish churches, in Ross-shire particularly, have been literally
emptied. When examined by the Poor Law Commissioners, in
1843, Mr. Mackenzie, then and still the established minister
of Lochcarron, admitted that " almost all the lower classes had
seceded in his parish." They continue seceders still, while the
sheep-farmers, or upper class, adhere to the Establishment. There
is thus a double point of collision between the two ranks — an eccle-
siastical as well as an agrarian enmity. The proprietor, the minister,
the schoolmaster, and the large tacksmen — all who used to act as
the leaders of the people, and to manage the public business of
the parish — are ranged together on one side and in one cause ;
while the people are as unanimously and determinedly united on
another side and in an entirely opposite cause. It is, cc«isequently,
almost impossible to find an inc^idual in the upper rank who has
not a grudge against the people, cither on the score of their Free-
Churchism, or on the score of their hostility to the sheep-walk
system ; and though this feeling is, doubtless, returned in full by
the people, their position manifestly renders them infinitely less
capable of giving effect to it than their opponents.

Such are the pecviliar elements out of which the Central Eelief
Board required to form a local agency for the distribution of its

I

I

supplies. Tlie task was certainly a difficult oiie. To draw out a con-
stitutioa for a good working relief committee in aHiglilaud parish
was n work worthy of the genius of an Ahbc Sieyes. K you chose
your members out of the upper rank, you were sure to have a com-
mittee actuated by bitter hostility to tiie very class to whom you
wished to diseharge certain charitable ofljccs; and if, on the other
hand, you took your materials from the lower rauk, you miglit
expect to have the anonudy of members of your committee voting
supplies aud dispensing relief to themselves. It was just a new
phase of the old difficulty which had pu7>?ied constitution-makers
and political philosophers from the beginning of the world — how
to guard against tyranny on the one hand, aud licentiousness on
the oi.her. Captain Elliot, on his tour, found the problem solved
in the only way in which it ever has been solved. He found the
commifteea composed of both parties, and the one acling as a
check upon the other. Tlic balance of power might not be pro-
perly adjusted^ but to see whether it were, and to Tnake it so, was
reidly aU that a wary inspector wonld have attempted. Captain
Elhot, however, took another course. He looked round at all the
fine houses in the parish, and called upon this and the other sheep-
farmer, from whom, of course^ he heard the same tale ahout the
indolence and worthlessness of the people, and how poor ignorant
loiters were sittiug in the committee distributing meal to them-
selves. The bait was ciceedingly plausible, ajid the Captain,
hearing nothing else, swallowed it. A great reform was imme-
diately resolved upom None but respectable men — men well-to-
do in the world — were, from that time, to have seats in the com-
mittee; and, accordingly, every poor man, and, as a necessary
consequence, every Prec- Churchman, except one or two very
harmless individuals of that species, were expelled from the Eoard,
and the entire sway handed over to the upper and anti-popular
party. The effect was deplorable. Wittingl/ or unwittingly,
Captain Elliot lent himself to the achievement of a party triumph
wbieli embittered tenfold the had feeling previously existing be-
tween the two classes, and rendered impossible anything like an
harmonious co-operation between the distributors and the receivers
of relief. If the local committees of other parishes are one-half
AS exclusive as that of Lochcarron, the Central Board never took
a wiser step than when it resolved to dispense with the services
of these bodies altogether, and conduct their operations through
the agency of individual inspectors.

68 LETTERS FBOH THE HI6HLAKDS.

The peculiar state of society, which I have endeavoured to ex-
plain, is a matter of prospective concern ; for it is calculated to
prove a great barrier to every effort made to promote the per-
manent improvement of the Highlands. In mixed and wealthy
communities, political and religious divisions seldom retard any
social enterprise, as there are generally a sufficient number of
neutral persons to form a link between opposite parties in all
undertakings requiring united effort ; and each party is usually
famished with individuals fully qualified to conduct its separate
projects. But in a small and simple community, division of every
kind is disastrous; because every member of such a community, and
still more every class, is absolutely needed to produce any effec-
tive result. The intelligence, wealth, and influence of the upper
classes are useless when these classes have lost their hold over
the affections of the people ; and what, on the other hand, can the
people do without leaders P It is to the breaking down of the
sheep-walks and a more equitable allotment of the soil, and to such
a remodelling of the parochial system as will remove aU causes of
sectarian jealousy, that we must look for the restoration of that
union and co-operation to Highland parishes, which are certainly
not the least essential elements of their social improvement.

Before closing my observations on the Lochcarron district, it
may be proper to consider what is best to be done for the relief
of this district during the coming year. It will scarcely be dis-
puted that the works which have been commenced by the Central
Board ought, if possible, to be finished. Nothing can be more
profitless than a half-made road, or an incomplete pier. To con-
struct a thorough good pier at Janetown would require a few
thousand pounds ; and if a work of this magnitude was resolved
upon, part of the expense ought, in common fairness, to be borne
by the proprietor. The pier for which part of the stones have
been laid down, is planned on a much smaller scale ; and as it
would be chiefly advantageous to the fishermen, the Board need
have no scruples in erecting it upon their own responsibility, if the
necessary co-operation cannot be obtaiued for a more extensive
work. The people's crofts, likewise, offer a profitable field for ex-
penditure. Many of them need draining, and all of them would
be a vast deal the better of trenching. But these, and other land
improvements, must first be made the subject of negociation with
the proprietor, with the view of obtaining for the people such a
security of tenure as will give the Board a reasonable prospect of

LOCnCARRON.

ea

repajmciit for its outlay. Let tbc croftcra liave kases, and they
will be able to offer a pcr-centagc to the Board upon the iniprovc-
iTunit made at its expense upon their lands. By a careful selection
of its nndertakings, and ii little tact and prudence in tbe prelimi-
nary airangementSj the Board may in the majority of cases recover
its expenditure, and thus preserve a fund for stimulating industry
and improvenieut for many years to t^ome. The appointment of
an efficient agricnltiirist in this district, not only to inspect and
superintend the ^ orks, but also to instruct the people m husbim-
dry, and to direct thera during the coming year into an enlightened
and scientitic cidtivation of their crofts, would be attended with
the most beneficial results.

The people of Janetown, as well as those scattered along the
shore of Loclicarron, are fisbers as well as cultirators of the sod ;
but it is in the latter capacity that they are most susceptible of im*
provement, and most capable, if an opportunity were grven them,
of earning a comfortable Hvebbood. They never have been fisher-
men in the proper sense of the term. The sea offers as certain,
and perhaps a more abundant income to the industrious ttian the
soO itself ; but only on condition that its treasures be steadily,
perse veringly, and constantly pursued. Tbis the Lochcarroa croft-
ern have never le-anied to do. They only fish daring two or three
months in the year. Herring is the only kind of fish they pay
attention to ; and it is only in the lochs that they even fiib for
herring. Their boats and lishiiig- tackle are not adapted for any-
thing more. The Janeto^^Ti boats measure 15 feet in keel, and
7 feet in breadth. Tor deep-sea fishing-boats fully twice as large, as
well as nets and hues of eoiTes]ionding extent, would be necessary ;
m\d I need scarcely say that these are materials wliieb the people
in their present circumstances have no means whatever of acquir-
ing. If suitable boats and materials could be provided for prose-
cuting fdl kinds of tishing, and if all the young men and others
having no land, or very Httlc land, were employed from year's end
to year's end in excavating tbe riches of the deep ; and if those,
at the same time, who remained on shore, had their crofts enlarged,
and their energies were a*? coiu^tantly and perseveringly applied
to develop the resources of the soil, I do not say but a very grati-
fying change would be immediately observable, nor do I doubt that
as hmve fishermen and as skilful farmers would be found iix Loch-
earron as in any other part of her Majesty^s dominions. But till
these arrangcjnents can be made there seems to be no available.

■

70

LETTERS FROM THE niGHLANDS.

BO immediate remedy, except in the better eultivatioE of sucli knd
as the people have.

LETTER XIT.

Plockton — ^ymptomi of Tnidmg AdUvity— Prod ace of Lota— SelatiTe ftmnittDt
of Niitrimfrit (k-mcd from a Crop nf Wtiitoea ami a Crop of OaMor Bjirley
— Rippaaif-d Failure of PotatQee — Number and Produce of Co we — Iinprave-
menta effeetf^d under Kelief Committee— Suta of Crofts— lujudoiu Systua of
Hauiuinff imd Tilling—JiJ eeeasory Uhangae.

1?'eom Janetown I passed over to Ploclctoiij another fishing
village, situated on the opposite shore of LocLcarron. Plockton
is the principal scat of population in the quoad civilla parish of
Lochalshj and is the property of Mr. Lillingston, a resident heri-
tor, to whom the other parts of that parish^ and part of the ad-
joiiiinr^ parish of Kiiitail, also belong. The census of 1841 gave
this village a population of 537. The houses, of wliich several are
two storeys high and slated, are erected behind a craggy promon-
tory that runs ont into the Locbj answering all the purposes of &
break-water pier, and forming a tine natural harbonr, in which the
small fishing- vessels of the villagers ride in perfect security from
fltorms, Plockton seems well adapted hy its position for a fishing*
station, and the population has made some slight advances to ft
state of trading activity. In addition to the ordinary fishiog-boats,
which arc here about the same cjdihrc as at Janetown, and fitted
only for kjch-liHhing, there arc several small sloops, capable of trad-
ing with the Clyde. These vessels give a stimulus to the herring-
lishingj and protect the pcople^ — especially those who have tho
gOi>d fortiiuc to share in their ownership — from extortion, both in
the sale of their produce and the purchase of materials. By mean^ of
these smacks they are enabled to carry their herrings to Greenock and
Glasgow, where they realise the highest market-price, and where
they can also supply themselves with salt and other materials at
prime cost. Villages not so well circumstanced in this respect are
obliged to deal with strangers, who visit their lochs for that pur-
pose, and who hring with them a cargo of salt, which they barter
for herrings, taking care to appropriate a good profit olT both ends
of the transaction. In the case of the poor villagers the free-trad©

4

J

4

FLOCKTO.N\ 71

maxim is tlins completely reversed, for tliey sell in the cheapest
market and bay in the dearest. I am told that Mr* Lilliiigstoa
assisted the Plocktoo people in purchasing their small sailing-
vessels; and, certainly, no step more commendable could have
been adopted hy a proprietor of one of these helpless poverty-
stricken fishing villages. The great want in these commiinitics is
the formation of small capitals, with which fishing, and the van*
003 artii connected with it, may he prosecuted with greater vigour,
constancy, and completeuess. Though labour is the source of capi-
tal, it is by the profits of tradiug that capital is usually accuniu-
lated in tlie hands of individuals ; aiidj therefore^ vessels, hy creat
innf a tnuling doss, and fostering commercial dealings, are directly
caienlatcd to lay the foundations of wealth, and elevate the people
above their present level of \^Tetched dependence.

The advantages of ship-owiung, bowcvcrj have not been suffi-
ciently developed in Flockton to save the mass of the people from
tlic general features which characterise the condition of similar
popidations on tlie west coast. TJiere is here, as elsewhere, the
same reluctajice on the part of the people, and the same inability
for want of means, to tlirow themselves boldly on the resources
of the sea; the same shrinking dependence upon land, and the same
defieiency of land tct yield more than a tithe of their subsistence.
There are thirty families in the village who have no aUotmeuts of
any she. Those wlio do occupy land pay rents varying from ISs. to
£5 per annum. About 24s. per acre is cliarged for the hest land.
These patches were of considerable advantage to the families so
long as they were planted with potatoes; but sown with com or
with barley, their produce is extremely inaignifieant. Tliis season
they were sown almost wholly with barley; and on one of the best
managed lots, I find that a piece of land which used to yield twelve
bolls of potatoes, haa retiurned torn holb of barlcymeal Tliis miuit
not be taken, however, as an average specimen; for three holls of
barlcymeal, or two bolls of oatmeaJ, for twelve bolls of potatoes,
is a much more common return. The diiTerence, in point of utility
to a family, between the two crops may be easily estimated. A
boll of meal is 140 ibs. in weight; a boll of potatoes is four ewt.,
or 448 fcs. Five pounds of potatoes are considered equal in point
of nourishment to one pound of oatmeal; and from these faets it
follows, as any one who chooses to nm over a simple arithmetical
process may deraonstrate, that the life-sustaining power of two bolls
of oatmeal bears the same proportion to that of twelve bolls of pota*

72 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

toes, as 1,400 does to 5,376, or some fractions less than one to Four.
It is difficult to determine the precise quantity of nonrishmeut
necessary to maintain a human being in health and vigour, but I
believe a family of five — ^two adults and three children — ^wiU live
as the Highlanders live, that is, they will not die suddesdy of star-
vation, upon five pounds of oatmeal per day, or twenty-five pounds
of potatoes. And so the further conclusion to which these figures
bring us, arithmetically, is,^iiat while twdve bolls of potatoes would
sustain a family of five during thirty weeks and five days, the two
bolls of oatmeal which the Highland crofters have reaped this yeax,
as a substitute, are only sufficient to sustain sudi a family during
eight weeks. The greater the amount of potatoes formerly grown
by a Highland crofiter, the greater, of course, is the gap now made
in his usual means of subsistence, and vice versa; but these ealcur
lations will show how it happens that distress will be nearly as
rampant this year as last, and how impossible it is that there
«ver can be anything else but distress in the Highlands so long as
the present system continues. The restoration of the potato is
now a forlorn hope, which the pec^le themselves have begun to
abandon. It is calculated that two-thirds of the small stock of
potatoes in Plockton are abeady destroyed ; it will be impossible
to preserve the remainder for seed; and tiiough the people made
a great efiPort to procure a few potatoes last ispnng, at an exorbi-
tant price, that is a process which will not be generally repeated.
The disuse of potatoes, except as a garden vegetable, is not to be
regretted by any true friend of the Highlanders. Without these
prolific but innutritions roots, the proprietors could never have re-
duced the peo{de to Hve on such miserable patches of land ; and
without tiiem it will be equally impossible to perpetuate the system.
But unless immediate remedies be i^tplied, it is obvious that tibe
people will be exposed to severe sulPerings during the period of
transition to a more substantial system.

A grazing for «ighty-one cows is attached to the crofts at Plock-
ton, and is fully stocked. Supposing each lasnily to consist on an
average of five individuals, the populaition of 1641 gives 107 as the
total number of families inthe village. There would thus be twenty-
six families wIk) have no oows, even though no family kept more
than one; but the wamber must be oon^erably greater, as some
families have two cows. Cows giving milk are fed with straw and
hay in winter; while farrow cows are left out night and day on the
hiU. The excellent quali^ of Highland milk is weU known, but

PLOCKTON, 73

it IS not to he e3q>ectc{l that^ from cows on such poor feeding, tlic
qimnlif^ can !)e cquidlj n^tifjing, Besitles snpporting lier caJf, a
cow in Plockton pn^es two Scotch pints of milk per day, and tliis,
of course, otilj during part of the yenr. Two Scotch pints a-day
would he no extravagant allowance for a family of five individuals,
to whom milk was one of the main article* of diet^ bnt as there
are only tliree cows in Plockton lor every four families, and these
only give milk^ on an average, daring one-half of the year^ it follows
that the allowance of milk to each family is not more than three-
quarters of a pint per day. The Kev, Mr. M'Donald, in his evi-
dence before the Poor-law Conimiasioners, classes milk along with
herrii^gs as the sole aecompaniments of the potatoes and oatmeal,
which form the diet of able-bodied persons in Plockton; bnt from
this staiemcnt it plainly appears that even in this very necessary
article tlie people are extremely stinted.

The relief distribution in Plockton amounted to upwards of 400
bolk of meal. The results of the labour exacted by tbe Relief
Committee in return for these supplies arc much more palpable at
Plockton than at Janctown. New stone and fcal fences have been
built round the crofts to the extent of 3,853 yards, and 1^306 yards
of old fences have been repaired. The arable land is now cotn-
pletely enclosed from the lull, which is a matter of the highest im-
portance. Some falling cottages were repaired, a boat-quay was
made, a quantity of hemp was spun, and some stockings knitted ;
and when the relief operations were suspended, the people were
engaged in widcrdng a very perilous pathway on which the women
go to milk the cows on the hdl. All these works are highly use-
ful and necessary ; bnt the erection of the enclosures is the most
extensive and important — -and the energy and unity of design with
which it was carried on to a state of completion reflect the highest
credit on the Relief Committee of Plockton. This vfduable work
lays the way open for those agricnItnriJ improvements which the
loss of the ]sotato renders indispensable, and the introduction of
which isj I believe, the most beneticid undertaking to which the
Helief Board can address itself.

The production of tlie crofts is far below what it might be nnder
a proper and euHghtened system of cultivation. Prom time imme-
morial the land has been manured with sea-ware, a substance pos-
sessed of stimulatbg properties, and exceedingly useful if applied
sparingly, or if laid for a year or two on reclaimed mosa, Bnt
8ca-ware does not add substance to the soil. It does not even

4

74

LETTEKS FHOM THE HIGniAKDS,

restore tlie materials extracted from it by successive crops. Cwi'
sequently, instead of ip-owing riclier and deeper, tke soil becomea
sliaUower and poorer every je^. TMs miscbief bas been greatly^
aggravated by tbc sameness of tlie crops. Evcrywlicrc in the
Higblands you find some attempt at a rotation of crops ; but tbe
greater productiveness of the potato has given it a marked prefe-
renee over all other kinds of food. Many spots of gi'ound have
grown bttlc else than potatoes since tbey were first brought into
culture \ and thig continual potato-cropping, by always extracting
the same materials from the soilj while the maiiure failed to restore
them J baa necessarily exhausted the elements of fertditVj and, in
my opinionj bas operated as one very powerful cause in weakening
the potato itself. If you pump the air out of au apartment in which
an animal is c^ufiiied, nnmediate death Ls the consequence. In like
manner the effect of sea-ware and perpetual potato-croi>s bas been
to suck the materials out of the soO on wliich the potato feeds,
till at last the vegetable sickens and dies of inanition. Wherever
I find sea-ware used as a constant raajiure^ the soO has a bleached
and impoverished appearaucej as If every particle of vegetable
mould were washed out of it. Had the people been careful to
collect ordinary dung-beapSj and used sea-ware spariiiglyj as one
ingredient of a compost, very diiTerent results would have ensued.
The waste of soil woidd have been annually repaired. Tlie con-
stant addition of new materials would even have made a soil on the
poorest and most barren spots, and the land, instead of deterio-
rating, would have improved by cropping.

Another great evil exists in the prevdent system of tilling the
land. In Plockton, and all along the west coast, the soil is turned
over with the crooked spade — an implement consisting of a blade
of iron about twelve inches long and three mches broad, fixed upon
a t\\isted shaft in such a fashion that the labourer ean stand erect
while he presses it with bis foot iJito the soil. Tliis instrument
saves the labourer the pain of stooping, but it does no manner of
justice to Tiis land. Tour or five inches is the utmost depth to
wbieli it penetrates, and below this shaUow surface there is a stilT
pan or crust, which has never been broken up by trenching^ and
which the crooked spade may harden, but never loosens. I meet
with persons who say that the crooked spade is weU adapted for
shallow soils; but it is precisely because the soil is shallow that it
ought to be tin-own aside. Tlie thinner the surface soil, the more
necessary it is that the subsoil should be stirred and broken into

particles, so as to mcreaao and deepen the eartt available for tl>e
sustenance of tlic crops* Such process of deepening can never
take place irnth tlic crooked spacle, fofj passiag obKqnelj into the
soil, it mercij turns over what is alre^y loose, and leaves the snb-
ioil entirely untonched* If the system of mannrinf^ fails to enrich
the soil from above, tlii^ process of tilling is equtdly inculpable of
enriching it from helow. The land is thus starved on both sicieA,
and a rapid decay of fertility is the conscq^uence. Loud complaintH
ftre made of the wetness of the climate* Well, observe how this
operates. The rain comes down in torrents, and as it cannot sink
through the hard subsoil, it lies in pools on the surface. Vegeta-
tion is immediately stopped, and before dry weather eiasues, lasting
lEJujry may be done to the seed or plant, whatever it may be. And,
on the other hand, when a tract of hot weather sets in, the water
thus lodged in the surface suddenly evaporates^ leaving the soil
and its seeds as Likely to be injured by too little moisture as they
were formerly by too much. If the subsoil were thorougMy broken
np, the rain would penetrate down as it fell, and when the hot
weather caine, would be slowly exhaled back tlirough the aurface
soil in moderate and beneQciBd moisture^ and the kiid bo conse-
quently enabled to resist for a longer period the scorching eJfects
of the sun. Rain and beat would thus be made subser\'ient to tlie
purposes of vegetation; but under the present imperfect system of
tillage, the evil eflects of both are tenfold increased.

Such are a few of the more obvious defects in the management
of the soil at Plockton, Let a wiser and more effieieiit system of
culture be introduced, and a large and immediate addition will be
made to the subsistence and comforts of the peoidc. The first step
to be t4iken is to trench the allotments. The use of the crwked
spade may not be easily abolished; but under a system of thorough
and perio(bcal trenching, that implement would be much less in-
jurious, and we may trust to the force of example and CKpericnec
for its gradual disuse. A change of manure may not be practi-
cable, to a great extent, during the first year; but a system of
cropping and general management ought to be adopted, by which
thia and other requisites will be secured for the future. The cows
reqiure to be better fed to nmkethem worth kee[iing^ and for tliis
purpose, as well as for the purpose of providbig a greater abun-
dance of food to the people, let the land be laid out in green crops
— ^tumips, cabhageSj rape, vetches, pease, beans, carrots — every
variety of vegetable, in abort, for wbicli the soil ia adapted, and

I vonety t

76 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

whicli promises to be useful. These crops will afford a great deal
of house-feeding for the cows. If the cows are fed in-doors, some
other use may be made of the hill pasture; and I would have sheep
put upon it, the flesh of which, accompanied with the vegetables
grown upon their allotments, would be a much more savoury and
nutritious diet for the people than the perpetual herrings and pota-
toes to which they have hitherto been condemned. I have left oats
and barley out of the list of crops, because, as I have abready
stated, nearly the whole of the lots were sown last year with these
grains, and a change is necessary; but it is obvious, that under a
proper rotation and system of cultivation as I propose, the soil
would yield much more abundant returns of meal than at present.
If cultivated as a garden is cultivated, the Plockton lots may do a
great deal towards the maintenance of the people; but on any other
plan they will prove little better than " a mockery, a delusion, and
a snare."

LETTEB XV.

A. Resident Proprietor —Bental and Produce of Lochalsh— Distribution of Soil
— ^Two Facts— An Ecclesiastical Sinecure — ^Deficiency of the Means of Edu-
cation.

Whatever steps may be taken in Lochalsh by the Central
Relief Board, the co-operation of a resident and improving land-
lord is one advantage at least that may be relied upon. Captain
Elliot, in one of his reports, names Mr. LiUingston as one of the
few Highland proprietors who, in the late famine, gave " their un-
tiring personal services, in addition to their sympathy and their
money ;" and, from all I can learn, the eulogium is not over-coloured.
This gentleman resides constantly on his property ; and residence,
I find, in nine cases out of ten, is only another term for zeal and
liberality in promoting the interests of the people. However kind-
hearted the absentee may naturally be, it is impossible he can take
the deep interest in the improvement of his property and his people
that is felt by the resident proprietor; and even his subscription
to a relief fund, however liberal, is rendered comparatively valueless
for want of the constant personal inspection trnd encouragement

lOOHALStr.

7?

I

which it is m the power of a resident landlord to give to the iii-
dustrial operations of his lal)ourerM and tenants* In a thinlj-
popdatcd Highland parish^ the proprietor is the only individual
who has the power and the interest to devote liiraself to the ma-
terial improYement of the people, just as rent is the oidy capital hy
which the resonrees of the soil can be developed. If a proprietor,
tlierefore, carries both his talents and his rents to another conntrr,
the cause of iniproTeineut in snch a paiish is robbed of its only
sheet-anchor, and society is inevitably doomed to poverty and bar-
harisni,

Mr. Lillingston manifested tlie utmost anxiety for the people
during the recent distress, and did all in his power, both by em-
ployment and gratuitous assistance^ to alleviate the calamities of
the crisis. He sent large supplies of tumipg to Plockton and other
placeSj by me-ans of which tlie injurious effects of the perpetiml
meal diet distributed by the Relief Board were connteracted, and
the people saved from the disease which broke ont in other dis-
tricts. I was much pleased to observe fields of excellent cabbages
in the neighbourhood of tliis gentleman's house, as they evince an
enlightened appreciation of the system of husbandry best adapted
for the climate of the west coast, as weE as for the new and un-
expected difficulties of the people. The land occupied by Mr.
Lillingston is of superior quality, but a large proportion of it re-
quires drainagCj and in tills and other improvements Mr. Lilliiigston
is actively engaged. The annual rental of the parish is £S,097 2s,
The population at last census was 2,5 9 7j having steadily increased
from IjGOG in 1801, The total yearly value of raw produce raised
in the parish, including fisheries, is given in the I^^ew Statistical
Account at £5,841 4s. It thus appears that the rental is more
tlian one-half the entire produce of the sod— a fact which shows
how essenti^y the prosperity of the Highlands depends on a right
expenditure of rent, and how much the Government and the country
arc entitled to expect at the hands of the proprietors. It is also
shown by these figures that, after paying the landlord's rent, only
£2,744 2s. worth of raw produce remains to a population of 3,597
souls, or £1 Is, 1 Jd- on an average to each individual* As there
are no manufaetnres in the parish to form a means of support, it
follows incontcstibly tliat the population must be excessively poor
—so poor, that a considerable number must depend to a great ex-
tent upon employment in other parts of the countiy. If the land-
lord were lo spcad the entire rental ia the employment of the

&.2

■

78 LETTERS raOM THE HIGHLANDS.

people, still an average dividend of only £2 4s. 7d. would be all
that could fall to the share of each individual in the parish — an
income which would certainly not ensure a very comfortable stand-
ard of subsistence. It is vain, therefore, to expect that the best
aad most enterprising landlord can immediately raise such a popu-
lation above the danger of want. It is only by a long waste of
resources that a parish can have been brought to so poor a con-
dition ; and in like manner it will require years of liberal expendi-
ture, and patient and persevering industry, on the part of both
proprietor and people, to raise the annual produce to an amount
conunensurate with the wants of the population.

In Lochalsh, as in every other Highland parish I have yet visited,,
there is ample scope for agricultural improvement. It will be much
easier, and in every respect more satisfactory, to raise up the annual
produce of the parish to a level with the population, than to re-
duce the population down by emigration or otherwise to a level
with the annual produce. The area of the parish is divided chiefly
into large sheep-farms, on which there is the same waste of soil and
the same indolent system of management which prevail on other
sheep-walks. It is with the greatest difficulty that the graziers
can be prevailed upon to grow an acre or two of turnips, though
they send scores of sheep every winter eighty or ninety miles to
turnip-feeding. The same statistical authority, to which I have
already referred, gives the following as the distribution of land in
Lochfidsh: —

Arable land, 1,477.056 acres.

Green pasture, 2,889.139 —

Hill pasture, 44,730.463 —

Moss, 778.472 —

Underwood, 2,147.578 —

The " arable land" is mostly all cultivated in the defective way
which I described in my last letter; and I may safely appeal to any
one acquainted with the management of soil, whether by means of
draining, trenching, and more skilful manuring and cropping, the
produce of these 1,477.056 acres may not, at the lowest calculation,
be doubled. The " green pasture," as distinguished from " hill
pasture," consists chiefly of land which the sheep-walks have thrown
out of cultivation, but which is as capable of growing crops as any
of the acres designated " arable." Let it be observed that there
are twice as many acres in " green pasture" as there are " arable."
Some parts of the 778.473 acres of moss have already been re-

LOCHALSH.

79

I

claimed, but it may be safely said, tbat 300 or 300 acres of moss
may be profitably converted into good crop-bearing land. Such
are the a^cultural resources of Lochalsli, The proprietor and the
HeUef Board have only to set to work — they have only to improve
judiciously and vigorously — and t!ie produce of the parish will
annually increasCj and the people be raised to a*state of affluence
compared with they* present poor and destitute condition.

It will doubtless be urged, in opposition to all these facts, that
the people are indolent, prejudiced, obstinate, and that it >ill be
impossible to prevail on them to adopt a new system, I will just
mention two facts wbicb have come under ray observation. Be-
fore this year there were only four gardens in Plocktou with vege-
tables. Ltist spring Mi. Lillingston purchased seeda and distributed
them to the peoplCj and the result is, tliat every patcb of garden-
ground in Plocktou la filled with excellent crops of carrots, tur-
nipa, onions, cabbages, &e. At the Kirkton of Locbalsh I had
my attenldou drawn to eight or nine com stticks belonging to the
viUagers, Some years ago there were only three or four stacks
where these now stand ; and I was assured that the increase is
mainly tlie result of the greater skill and industry with which the
villagera cultivate their patclies of laud- I infer from these facts,
tbat when a foir op[>ortuuity is offered tbem, the people will be
found willing and able to do their part.

There is a notable example at Plocktou of the disorder wMcb haa
crept into our parocbiid and ecclesiastic4d estahlisbments. Li 1833,
Plockton was erected into a quoad sacra parish. A parliamentary
cburch was built, aud an annual stipend of £120 was voted for the
minister out of the public purse. At the Disruption the people fdl
but universally adhered to the Ereo Church, and a meetmg-houso
has been built in connexion ivitb that body, in which stated minis-
trations take place. In opposition to the strenuous objections of
the people, a minister was settled in the parliamentary church somo
time ago. The reverend gentleman who has beeu called to this office
has four bearers, it is said, and one of these is a waverer. Such
is the nmiour of the villago. There can be no doubt that the cou^
gregation is an exceedingly select party, that the great body of
the people are Free Church adlu^rcuts, and that the otiice of par-
liamentary minister is a sinecure. Is there no honest Seotcbman
in the House of Commons who will rise and move that this par-
liamentary church be converted into a public school, and the mi*
nistcr's stipend into an endoviinent for male and fenude teachers P

80 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

One of the most grievons wants of the Highlands is an efficient
system of instruction ; and it is disgraceful to allow the public
money to be wasted on such a needless institution as this parlia-
mentary church. There is a Free Church school in Plockton, but
both teacher and scholars have very inferior accommodation. In
the neighbouring village of Kishom, with 400 or 500 people, there
is absolutely no school whatever. There is also no school in the
village of Shieldag, and the parish school itself, of Applecross, is
entirely deserted. From the want of schools, and the poverty of
the people together, it is only a small proportion of the Highland
children who enjoy the advantages of the most elementary educa-
tion. Crowds of boys and girls are seen everywhere running about
in idleness and ignorance ; and thus, in the very spring of their
young natures, are implanted the seeds of those vices for which
the adult Highlanders are so loudly blamed. If the adults are ir-
reclaimable, why not commence the work of reformation with the
young ? Why not establish good schools in every hamlet, where
the young would not only be taught to read and write, but where
the boys would also be taught to cultivate the soil, and the girls
to knit, sew, cook, and keep a house clean P It is folly to talk
of such schools being established by voluntary means. Education
in the Highlands ought to be taken up as a Government work ;
and the teinds and property of every parish should be charged
tjrith the expense of its completion. Through the agency of well-
endowed schools, ideas and habits of order, cleanliness, industry,
and civilization, may be carried at once into the darkest and most
destitute districts of the Highlands.

LETTEE XVI.

nshing-Yillages of Dornie and Bundalloch— Cry for More Land— Proper Sphere
of Relief Board— Rise and Progress of To wnR— Contrast of Highland Yillagea
-^Their Defects and Natural Besoarces— A Schoolmaster at Work.

A PERRY over a narrow arm of the sea, called Loch-Long, con-
nects Lochalsh with Kintail. On both sides of the Loch there
is a collection of wretched-looking huts, inhabited by poor cottars
and fishermen. On the Lochalsh side the cottages are scattered

I

irregularly along the shore, and back over a tract of swampy
ground, OE which aO the evils of sub<ii vision and squatting run riot.
On theKintail side, the houses are more numerous andconcentrated,
forming two goodly -sized villageaj called Domie and Bundaloch.
The foTuier has a few substantial skted bouses, but the general
aspect of the place is one of poverty ajid wretehedness. When
I reached the ferry, the dropping rain, and the bleick clouds loUiDg
Ttildl J in the wind, gave indication of a wet and stormy night. A
few minutes placed me on the small quay of Domic. About a
dozen stout men were standing against a corner, crouclmig to-
gether in the rain and cold, and looking wistfiUly down on the
risiiig turmoil of the fickle waves. A bad herring fishing was written
legibly in the Jong grave faces of the jwor fellows. There had
been a settlement tbat very day, and a dividend of lOa. to each
man was the whole return of a fortniglif a flsliing. Two or three
months of herring fishing are expected, after cleaAg expenses,
to pay the kndlord's rent, and pxitchase four or five months' supply
of meal. But a few more fortmghts like this last, and the fishermen
of Domie will find themselves without a ponny, thcu: nets worn, their
rents unpaid, and nothing but the operations of the Relief Board
between tliem and starvation during spring and summer. There
la no fish-curing establishment in Domie, The people sell their
herrings to the small sloops that visit the lochs during the fishing
seasouj a great number of which, I observed, had taken refuge
ttnder the shadow of a lofty mountain on the opposite sliore of Loch
Duicb. Tliese vessels w^ere giving 15s. per cran for good herrings.
It would be tedious repetition to describe minutely the resources
and condition of Domic and Bundatlocb. The fishing vOlages of
the west coast m-e too much aUke to admit of separate detail.
Some are ^Tetcbcd in the positive, some iu the comparative, and
aome ia the superlative degree ; but all ai'O wretched. Domie is,
if jyossibie, more miseniblc than cither Jimctowu or Plockton. One-
half the people here have no land, atid tlie other-half have, on an
average, about an acre each. The faiLure of the potatoes last year,
oonplcd with the low price of herrings, plunged the village into
extreme distress. Some idea may be formed of the extent of the
pressure, as well as tlie uniform poverty of the people, from the
fact, that, out of a ]>opulation of 690, only ten individuals were
exempted from the rcbef list. Eighteen bolls of meal were dis-
tributed weekly* The people were employed by the Belief Com-
mittee in building fences round their lots, and in making a road to

8S

LEirEllS rROM THE mOIILANDS,

the adjoinmg vilLige of BundaUoch, wlucli lias been left unfinisl
The women span wool aud knitted Btockings, Supplies were
also allowed wldle the people were laying down their crops and
casting peats. Oats aiid barley were groisii this year instead of
potatoes; but a very promising crop was deeply injured by sbt
weeks of heavy and almost incessant rain in httrvest . Tlic common,
opinion is, that distress will he as severe and prevalent this year
as last ; and a little consideration of the faets of the case may con-
vince any one that without some unusual and C3Ltrancous means
of support, the people must be exposed to deplorable hardsliips.

There is only one specific for the chronic destitution of Domie
and its companions in miaerVj and that is land, land^ land. It would
baffle the most skilful physician to prescribe auything one-Lidf so
remedial as a good dose of mother earth. The cry of the people
themselves is " more lEind, more land V* and it must be re-echoed
by their benefactors till the vast arena of opinion resound witli
the demand. There is no remedy but the cultivation of the soil.
The famished people cling to tlicir patches of land with the des-
peration of wrecked mariners to their last plank. Like tlie plank,
these patches axe too narrow for them to stand npon, and they
are like to be overwhelmed in the yawning gulph ; but give them
wider space — a broader deck — and they will hreaat the bOlows.

The llelief Board may do a great deed of good at Doniie by the
same measures as I have already recommended at Janetown and
Plockton, The completion of such works as have been commenced,
and tlie draining and trenching of the lands, ajfc nnderiakings which
are always worthy of the outlay. They wiH afford present employ-
ment and relief, increase the produce of the allotments^ and lessen
the destitution of a future year, while they wiU inure the people
to harder labour and to more skilfid modes of cultivation, and thna
prepare them for the justcr distribution of tlie soil, which, sooner
or later, must be conceded. But the Relief Board cannot aim at
more than partial and temporary remedies. There is a radical de-
fect in these fishing- villages, which no extrinsic aid can supply.
They arc rotten at the foundation, and can only be pennancntly
improved by taking tbcm down and erecting them on a new and
more solid basis.

Dr. Adam Smith has ably described the rise and progress of towns,
A few poor hawkers, who went about the country mth their goods,
and paid a tax to the King or the great lords for liberty to trade
in their demesneSj were permitted to live together in one place.

d

DORSIB A5D BUNDALLOCH. 83

and fonn one community. Gradually their privileges increased.
Thej were allowed to Lave magistrates and a council, first to farm^
and ultimately to impose tlieir own taxesj to form tlicmselves into
& militia for self-defence, and to sue and be sued in their own
courts of justice. Tbcy were hated by the barons, but patronised
by the Crown, The peasants of the adjoining country offered a
ready market for their wares, and the towns in their turn gave
the peasants a demand for the surplus produce of their lauds. The
oonntry stimulated the industry of the toi^Tis, and the towns the
industry of the eountry^and both grew and were stren^hened.
Such is a mmiature biistory of those great coq)onitions, which
now dazzle the world witli their wcjdth, Ihcir numbers, and their
power. An eminent economist of the present day lias likewise pour-
traycd the small begimiiugs and the steikly growth of a modern
Saxon village. A substaiitiai eli;inge-hou5e on one of our high-
roads, with its waiters, hostlcrsj ami plouglmion, forms the nucleus
of the future town. By-aud-bye, i\ smilliy is rec[uired, in which
to shoe the liorscs stabled at the inn, and this adds a blacksmith
and his family to the embryo population. The innkeeper and the
blacksmith, and their dependants, must have shoes for their feet,
and clothing for their backs, aud so up starts a shoemaker, and
next a tailor > By this time the demand for tea, and sugar, and
tobacco, has become too large to be supplied conveniently from
the nearest ma^ketnto^vn; and, accordingly, the yoimg village must
have its own grocer. Disease breaks out, and this occasions the
residence of a surgeon; and thus, step by step, man by man, the
orgauizatiou of the community proceeds. Every man comes when
there is need for him — every man brings with Mm the means of
his support — every man takes his proper place— aud slowly and
surely the village rises into being, soUd and symmetrical as a piece
of masonry. Such is the account given of the small rural towns
which form so important an element both of English society and
English landscape. But no poKtical economist has yet ^litten the
history of such towns as Janetown, Plocktoiij and Doriiie, The
Higl Jand fislung-vihages form a distinct species of the genua uri^s.
Alone in their misery, they are equally unique in their rise, pro-
gress, and decline. Tlieir growth has not been the gro^rtli of the
oak — slow, soHd, and endurijig ; but the growth of the mnsluoom,
which raises its ponderous fungus in a night, aud in a night falls
prostrate in dce^y. On some fatal Martimnas or "^Thitsunday term,
the forefathers of these T?iTctched vihagers were hunted out from

n

84 LETTERS FROM THE HIGIILANDS.

the glens, and pressed together in crowds on barren stripes along
the margins of the lochs. They had no arts, no mannfactures, no
goods to sell. And even supposing that they had been adepts in
trade, there was no rural population behind them to give a de-
mand for their products, and no com to take in exchange ; for the
same process which huddled them in helpless misery on the shore,
cleared the country of its peasants, and extinguished cultivation.
The two essential requisites to the prosperity of embryo towns
were wanting — artisans to manufacture goods, and an agricultural
population to give food in exchange for them. The mutual re-
action of country upon town, and town upon country, the advan-
tages of which are so ably displayed by Adam Smith, could never
ixame into play in the case of these fishing-villages ; but yet a po-
pulation sufficiently large to make a good town were there on the
beach, and somehow they must live. The land allotted them was
too narrow and too barren to keep them alive ; but here is the
sea — ^why not dip for herrings in the tide, and scratch limpets from
the rocks P They became amphibious, lived half on land and half
on water, and, after all, did not half live upon both. The spirit
of the people sank under that first fearful collision between the
clamant wants of their nature and the rugged novelties of their
position ; and for half a century the shock has fallen yearly in
stunning blows upon their desolate hearts. Population has in-
creased, but no progress has been made to a higher state of or-
ganization. There are stiU no manufacturers, no trade, no capital,
no middle-class. A few shoemakers, tailors, and weavers, are the
only artisans in the fishing-villages ; and these are the worst paid
and the most destitute of all. No arrangement is made for the
interchange of the most essential commodities. While I was at
Plockton, a number of the villagers travelled half-a-dozen miles
to buy a little meal, and were obliged to return home without it.
So destitute are these villages of the machinery of trade, that an
article of first necessity cannot be purchased without the greatest
difficulty, even when the people have the money to give for it. It is
evident that this disorganised imbecility has no foundation in any
want of natural resources. Villages may be as prosperous, as full
of industry, and as substantial in the Highlands as anywhere else.
The Highland seas are eminently adapted for fishing ; and fishing
carries a long list of arts in its train. Numerous boats are required,
and the building of these gives employment to sawyers, carpenters,
and smiths. Boats must have lines, nets, and sails; and these require

DORNIE AND BUNDALLOCH. 85

spinneirs, weavers, and sailmakers. Then yon need fishermen, gut-
ters, packers, coopers, and salt-dealers. A vigorous prosecution
of the single trade of fishing involves an immense variety of em-
ployments, all of which might be carried on in the fishing-villages
of the Highlands. But to conduct these branches of industry
thoroughly and successfully, capital is indispensable ; and capital,
unless derived from extrinsic sources, can only grow up in small ru-
ral towns when their trade is stimulated and sustained by peopled
and cultivated neighbourhoods. This can never take place in the
fishing-villages of the Highlands under the existing distribution
of the soil ; so that, though somewhat paradoxical, it is still strictly
true, that before these accumulations of misery can be improved,
they must first be overturned — before they can organise, they must
be dispersed— ^before they can develop the riches of the sea, they
must occupy and fertilise the land.

There is a Roman Catholic but no Presbyterian Church in Dor-
nie. The Established Kirk is at the opposite end of the parish,
which at one time was, no doubt, the most populous end, but the
clearances have changed the locality of the population, and so,
atopng other losses, have deprived the people of convenient access
to religious instruction. It is not imworthy of notice, that, on
visiting the school-house at Domie, I found it filled with a crop of
pease, and the teacher, a very decent and intelligent man, busily
engaged at thrashing. It was vacation time, and he took this
opportunity of housing and thrashing the produce of his croft.
It is no disparagement to any man to handle the fiail ; but it is
a significant commentary on the poor remuneration of Highland
teachers, that an individual, charged with the instruction of a village
of 600 inhabitants, should find it either necessary or profitable to
submit to so severe manual toil.

LETTEE XVII.

Contrast between the Scenery and Social Condition of the Highlands— PonnTa-
tion of Glenehiel— Great Licrease of Rents— Its Causes — Omissions oi' the
Legislature — Thraldom of the Cottars.

I TOOK a boat at Domie, and passing close under the grey ruins
of Castle Donan, the ancient seat of the Mackenzies of Seaforth,

H

88 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

entire parish of Glenshicl was under trust in consequence of the
pecuniary embarrassments of the proprietors.

It is very common to complain of " too many people" as the
main cause of distress in the Highlands ; and, in proof of this, we
are told' that in some districts there is a human being for eveiy
pound of rent paid to the proprietors. I am aware that this iack
applies to some parishes ; but population and rent are on a differ-
ent footing in Glenshiel. The former, as I have already stated,
is 745 ; while the latter in 1843 was £3,014 Is. 7d. Yet in this
thinly-peopled parish the marks of poverty and wretchedness are
as visible as where population is densest. There are here the
same miserable and filthy huts, the same potato and gruel diet,
and the same scanty and tattered clothing as in other districts of
the West Highlands. The cottars are in as miserable a condition
as it is possible to conceive. This wretched class are allowed as
much ground in the sheep-farms as plant five or six barrels of
potatoes ; and for this poor privilege — a privilege which in many
parts of the Lowlands is granted freely to all who choose to lay
down the necessary manure — the cottars of Glenshiel are bound
to work for the tacksman as often as he chooses to call upon them
from one end of the year to the other. These poor labourers are
literally thirled to the farms on which they reside. In seed-time,
in hay-time, in the peat-cutting season, and in harvest — in every
period of the year when they might hope to get employment at
daily wages — ^these slaves of the soil are obliged to give their
labour to the sheep-farmers. On some farms it is customary to
give the cottars a meal or two per day during the time they are
employed ; but this appears to be optional, as one farm was pointed
out to me where the patch of potato ground is the only remunera-
tion given by the tacksman for the mortgage held by him over the
bones and sinews of his cottai's. Each of the sheep-farms has six
or eight of these bondmen attached to it ; so that, the wages of
the shepherds excepted, a large grazier seldom pays a farthing for
the labour done upon his land. Slave-labour, it is said, is dearer
than free labour, and one reason of that must be, that the slave,
conscious that he is plundered of the fruits of his toil, refuses to
apply himself with energy and vigour to his work. But if this is
the effect produced upon a slave, who is well fed and well clad
at his master's cost, how natural must it be for the Highland
cottar to hate and detest labour, when he feels himself bound
hand and foot for the petty privilege of planting a few barrels of

GLEN9IIIEt.

89

I

poiatoL*s I It h vain to talk about the indolence and la7.iness of
the Higlilanders so long as sucli a system continues. To the High-
land cottar labour has hitherto been syuonymons with, robbery and
oppression. He has never known its value— he has never tasted
its rewards ; and how can it be otherwise than that he should feel
averse to it, and jirefer to resort to more easy and more question-
able means of liTelihood f The serfdom of the cottars in Glen-
ahiel is rapidly undermining their morals. Smuggling used to he
a favourite occupation, but this is giving place to an unlicensed
sale of intoxicating Kquors in private houses. During the fishing
season, drinkingparties frequently meet in the cottars* huts^ and
Bpend the night in carousals, from which the cottars exact a pro-
fit, but only at a fearfid cost of demoralization to tbeir customers
and their families. Here h surely a fine field for those pliilan-
thropists who have wept so long and sorrowfully for the sable
African. It is preposterous to talk of slavery being abolished in
the British, dominions. The Highland cottars groan under a
bondage as oppressive and degrading as tbe feudal serf of the
middle ages, or the negro slave of present times.

LETTER XVm.

Beflipi^niH of Relief In OleuBhie]— Evasion of Hie Poor-Law— Rate of J
mentr— Misemble Condition of Panpem and Cottars — Glf'nplg Propei-— Impro-
Tabilit; of tbe.Soil— Sheep-Fanaia— The Kirk ton— air. BuiUie— A nevr Specie»
of Bttukruptcy.

I

The distribution of the Belief Board in Glenshiel, during the
spring and suumierj varied from ten to twenty bolls of meal weekly.
The recipients were employed in banking streams and making
lauding places for tbe fisliing hoat^. The females w^crc engaged
in making nets and stockings, wluch are sold out by the local
inspector at a price which pays little more than the cost of ma-
terials. There are still about twenty persons on the relief list,
notwithstanding the resolution of the Board to suspend its ope-
rations. These consist of frail people three and four score jcars
of age, widows with young farailicsi and cottars reduced to star-
vfttioE. I will venture to say that two-thirds of those still rcceiv-

US

90 LETTERS FBOM THE HIGHLANDS.

ing the puWic meal are persons legally entitled to parochial relief;
and that the remaining third are individuals in a state of bondage
to the sheep-farmers. Though in every respect deserving objects
of relief, it is utterly inexcusable to place such persons on a pub-
lic fund. The rental is amply able to bear the burden of main-
taining every legal object of relief in the parish ; and the graders
should be compelled to sustain their own labourers or to contri-
bute to a tax for their employment in some other way. Mr.
Baillie of Kingussie and Mr. Matheson of Ardross have lately
become extensive proprietors in this parish, both of whom are
wealthy men, and fully capable of discharging the responsibilities
which the law has entailed upon them. The assessment of the
poor has hitherto been only IJd. per pound, and at a late meeting
of the Poor's Board it was resolved to raise it to 2^. — a pro-
position which deeply provoked the ire of some of the large te-
nants. Indeed, it is with this class, more even than the proprietors,
that the opposition to the just claims of the poor proceeds ; and
with the utmost justice they may be placed in the same dishon-
ourable list with the poor-rate repudiators of the Irish Unions,
with the exception that they have not poverty to plead as an
apology, like many of the defaulting rate-payers on the other side
of the Channel. While thousands of their fellow-coimtrymen are
paying two, three, and four shillings per pound for the relief of
the poor, these Glenshiel graziers, who have been raised to a
position of wealth and indolence over the necks of the people, and
whose elevation has been a direct cause of pauperism, complain
and murmur when called upon to pay a petty assessment of 2id<
per pound, one-half of which is refunded by the proprietor. Such
unblushing selfishness deserves no quarter, and the Relief Board
will render itseK most justly liable to public censure if it do not
take immediate steps to place the burden of all its recipients
who are entitled to parochial relief upon the proper parties. The
allowances to the poor in Glenshiel are quite imidequate to pro-
vide subsistence. A widow, with two children, gets from £2 to
£3 per annum. The highest allowance is £5. The cottars are in as
destitute and pitiable a condition as the paupers ; for the small
quantities of barley which they grew this year instead of potatoes
are abready done, and, without work at day-wages, they must starve.
It is expected that Mr. Matheson will give employment shortly in
embanking and straightening the course of the Croe river ; but it
is obvious that, instead of leaving a question of life or death to

GLENaJUEL. 91

thousands of hTiman beings to depend upon the option of proprie-
tors, the Legislature ought to institute some public mcasiiire that
will secure employment, and Bt the same time open up a path by
which the cnthroiled cottars may raise themselves to a state of
freedom and independence.

la addition to recent purchases m GlensMel, IMr, BaiUie has
also become the owner of a krge proportion of the neighbouring
parish of Glenelg, The whole of the beaut if id and fertile Btiath
called Glenelg l*roper, anciently the property of the M'Leod, now
beloogs to this aucecssfuJ Bristol merchimt. The parliamentary
road from Liveraesa to tlie Isle of Skye passes through his pro*
periy, comiecting Glenshiel with Glenelg by crossing the lofty hills
whicli divide the two pariahes. Leaving Sheil Inn, 1 proceeded
to climb this stupendous ijasa. The road winds slowly round the
shoulders and recesses of the niomitain, si^annmg numerous ravines
and streams hj means of substantial bridges, and giving a more
commanding and romantic view of Loch Duich imd the adjacent
heights, the higher it uscends. On reaching the Buminit, 1 found
myself looking down upon ono of the mo&t s]}iieiou3 and imjiro-
vable glens I had yet seen in the liigliknds, Glejiclg rro])er is
famed for the richness of its pasture. To ncai" tlie tops of the liiHs,
tlie green grass feels smooth and soft mider the tread as a luxuri-
ant carpet. A hocsd of dark heather covers t he simjndt s, and I could
ohscrvc that stripes of the smnc material are gi-adually stretcliiiig
down the fertile slopes of the mouLntaiMS^ Lower down still, in
spots where the heather Jtas not yet jicnef rated, the verdure lies
hid and wasted under thick crops of withering brcekaiis ; while,
in the bottom of the gkm, which is "v^ide and level, hut in which, for
many long Jem's, there has been a total cessation of the agricul-
tural operations nccessiuy to clean mid dry the sod, large tracts
of ground lie soaked with water, and covered with fog and rushes,
and every weed and abomination usually engendered by a marshy
waste. Tlus rich but neglected and deteriorating glen is eight or
nine miles long. Its soO is loam/ and is unquestioiiahly adapted
for growing heavy crops. The writer in the " New Statistical
Account" mentions that in this parish, Botwithstnrtding the wetness
of the climate, ** it is no unusual thijig for the common bear or Mg
to weigh fifty pounds imperial bushel, and Flcnush oat a forty-eight
poands." Yet you may travel miles through the richest parts of
Glenelg without seeing acorn held. At the head of Glenelg Proper
there is Scalsaig, a grazing farm, with about 3,(XI0 sheep, further

■

92 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

down I passed Beolary, another sheep-farm, with a stock of 4,000.
Two or three acres of tumips were the only marks of cultivation
I could discover on either of these large farms. I came next to
Immergraden, a club farm, with four tenants, who pay £120 of rent,
and cultivate on the old system — ^keeping eight or nine cows each,
and only a few sheep. Farther on a little I passed the manse,
with its glebe of nearly 400 acres, about one-eighth of which is
arable ; and, about a mile on, I at length reached the village or
Kirkton of Glenelg, its population penned as usual along the sea-
coast, and struggling to support existence by a half-and-half
dependence upon the resources of land and water. Of the 148
families in the village of Glenelg, fifty-seven have no land ; the
remaining ninety-one have lots varying from half an acre to two
acres each. The herring fishing is expected to eke out the in-
adequate produce of the soil, and as it has failed, so far, at least,
as the season has yet gone, all that I have reported of the
wretchedness and destitution of other fishing villages may be re-
peated with equal accuracy respecting Glenelg.

It can surely not be any advantage to a proprietor to have
fertile land lying waste at one end of a glen and people starving
at another. Mr. Baillie enjoys an enviable opportumty in Glenelg
of solving a vital and important problem. No proprietor iq the
Highlands is more capable of trying an experiment than he. If
it failed, he can well afiEbrd to lose the outlay ; if it succeeded, he
would have the proud satisfaction of saving his fellow-creatures,
while he gained fame and honour to himself. Why should not
Mr. Baillie take one of his sheep-farms, and, choosing out a
number of the overcrowded villagers, place the two together, and
see for once what results land and labour are capable of producing?
Mr. Baillie is not responsible for the revolution which swept the
people out of the glen, and left them stranded iq misery on the
shore. The minute subdivision of the crofts into acres and half-
acres was even accomplished before his time ; and I am told that
he prefers to give three or four acres instead of one. Why not
extend his principle to the point necessary to secure a comfort-
able subsistence to the crofters P It would be a good thing if
the Highland proprietors could be brought to feel, that it is a
personal disgrace to fail in providing for their people, when the
resources of their estates are amply sufficient to secure that end.
Mr. Baillie is a merchant, who enjoys a capital reputation on the
Exchange, and would shrink from the idea of insolvency as from

ISLE OF SKTE. y6

the cholera or the plagae. Yet to be owner of an nncnltivated
and undeveloped estate, like Glenelg Proper, and at the same time
have hundreds of people upon it destitute of food, and dragging out
existence by a miserable dependence on the chmtable offerings of
the British public, is a species of bankruptcy not less dishonour^
able than a downright stoppage of payments.

LETTER XIX.

Kyle Rhea— Lord Macdonald's Property-Estoppage of Works 1)7 Relief Board-
Highland Factora— Parochial Belief— Grand View— A Little Ireland.

Crossing the ferry of Kyle Bhea, I found myself safely landed
on a district of the Isle of Skye, belonging to Lord Macdonald.
Here I was at once introduced to a scene of misery, which gave
me an ominous foresight of the degradation and wretchedness that
awaited me in other parts of the isknd. About a score of huts
are scattered irregularly over a piece of mossy ground, at a little
distance from the shore. These habitations bear every indication
of extreme discomfort ; and the narrow patches of soil to which
they are attached speak in palpable terms of the slender resources
and the scanty food of their inmates. I found that on this spot
there are no fewer than twelve lots of land, for which the occu-
pants pay 25s. per annum each. Subdivision has been carried to
its farthest limits, and eight or nine of the cottagers are conse-
quently obliged to live without lots of any size. Among these
destitution had abready commenced. Up to the time when the
Eelief Board suspended its operations, they worked at the Glenelg
pier, on the opposite side of the ferry, and, in return, obtamed the
regulated allowance of meal But the stoppage of the works threw
them at once into idleness and privation, inasmuch as they had no
crops of their own to reap and consume, and no other employment
by which to earn a subsistence. The same impolicy which has
characterised some other of the Board's proceedings is observable
in this. The pier at Glenelg has been left unfinished, and, in all
probability, is rapidly going to waste and ruin ; while the dis-
banded cottars, who would gladly have toiled away till its comple-

94 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLAKDS.

tion had placed it beyond the reach of devastation, are suffering
hardships of every kind for want of employment and wages. It
wiU be impossible to regenerate the Highlands by regulations ema-
nating from a central authority in Edinburgh or Glasgow. The
adaptation of general rules to particular circumstances, and df
means to ends, can only proceed from local bodies. The High-
landers, in short, must be called upon and required to do their
own business. The cottars at Kyle E.hea who have land are sup-
porting existence in the meantime on the scanty produce of their
lots, which, on an average, does not exceed a boll and a half of
meaL When this petty store is exhausted, they will be involved
in the same destitution as those who have no land, and no man
will be in a position to assist his neighbour.

It is deplorable to think that, scanty as theproduce of the lots must
always.be, it has this year been rendered still more inadequate by a
defect which it ought to have been the first object of the proprie-
tor and his agents to supply. Last spring found the people at
Kyle Rhea without sufficient seed to sow their ground. The fac-
tor at last offered some for their use, but it was too late, and parts
of the lots remained unsown. I cannot say whether the delay in
this case was the fault of the proprietor or the factor ; but it can-
not be wrong to mention that the same gentleman who acts in the
latter capacity on Lord Macdonald's property in Skye, is also fac-
tor on the estate of Applecross in Eoss-shire, and fills many other
offices besides, so that it is not improbable that the same multi-
plicity of engagements which prevented him from checking the
ruinous expense of a draining experiment at Lochcarron, alluded
to in a former letter, may have also been the reason why the seed
com was not sent to Kyle Ehea till it was too late. In no de-
partment is the incapacity of the Highland lairds more conspicu-
ous than in the appointment of their factors. If they do not en-
trust the management of their estates to a writer in the county
town or some accoimtant in Edinburgh, neither of whom visits
the tenantry except on rent-days, they are pretty sure to appoint
a person whose jurisdiction extends over tracts of country which
it is impossible for any single individual to superintend. In both
cases lasting injury is done to the cause of progress and improve-
ment. In the Highlands, where the very rudiments of rural indus-
try have yet to be acquired, every factor should be a missionary
of agriculture ; and to render his services in this capacity effi-
cient, it is necessary that his sphere should be as well defined and

rSLE OF SKYE.

95

as thorotigbly manageable as tlie jamsh ministe/s or tlie fonsh
aohoolmaster'a.

Paupers In the district of Kyle EJiea get a Btone of meal if
females, and & stone and a Indf if males, every three weeks. There
is no assessment for tlie x>oor ; but it is said that one will be insti-
tuted immediately. The factor (who is inspector of the poor, it
seem^ as weU as agent of the landlord) has intimated to the inn-
keeper that he will have to pay £3 on a rent of £40, Supposing
that the proprietor is to bo assessed at the same rate, the total
produce of the tax (the annual value of rccd property in the parish
of Skat being £3,097) will amount to £314 lis., or fully 12 times
more than the whole sum expended on the poor in the year end-
ing February, 1846, This would certainly evince a vigorous de-
termination to improve the administration of the Poor Law ; but
it is evident that the mode in which the assessment is divided
between the proprietor and the people requirea to be veiy nar-
rowly watched where the poor's board is ao exclusively in the
interest of the former as in Slcat.

The road from Kyle Rhea to Broadford mnds along; a steep
pass of tho dark moss-clad liiil which at this point divides the
parishes of Sleat and Strath. When near the top of this weary
ascent, I found myself treated to one of those magnificent views
which so frequently arise to animate and console the tTaveUer in
the Highlands. Opposite me lay the wide green valley of Glen-
elg, vrith a battery of mountams rising tier above tier beside and
behind it, its brilliant verdure, irradiated with the rays of a gor-
geous setting sun, contrasting strongly with the bleak and barren
precipice on which I stood, rendered stiE more gloomy by the
black shadow of a thunder-clond, and the yeUings of the wind
which rushed down the narrow pass as if it had been chased
by a thousMid fiends. It seemed as if summer and winter, the
torrid and the frigid zonCj stood face to face, separated only by
the narrow sound of Sleat, which lay gleaming in the distance like
another I^Iilky Way, In the contemplation of such a scene aa
thisj the imagination delights to find rehef and solace amidst the
perpetual pictures of distress presented by the condition of the
people; but a long journey and a short day left me little time for
landscape dalliance, ajid so turning my back upon the gilded
radiance of Glcnelg, I pursued my way across the moor. The
road lay for some miles through a bleak tTaet of heather, and by
the side of a ooisy rollicking stream, and then dropping down by

96 LETTERS FROM THE HiaHLANDS.

a rapid descent to the sea-shore, passed through a nawow stripe
of cultivated land, studded thick with cottages, with little plots
of kail before their doors, and two or three very little stacks of
com at their ends. The lean, smoke-dyed women that looked
out from the loophole windows, the little pale-faced ragged chil-
dren that shivered about the doors, the ditches that ran along
the sides of the road and separated every little plot of land, the
old straw harness of the small shaggy horses, and the noisome
dung-heaps that lay smoking close beside, or at the very entrance
of the huts, constituted an Irish rather than a Highland picture.
Yet there was nothing truly Irish there — ^neither the people, nor
the country, nor anything, except, perhaps, the Irish title of Lord
Macdonali I could observe from the soil that very few pota-
toes had been planted, and that com or barley had been the pre-
dominating crop. Considerable patches of ground lay red- and
covered with heavy stones. These had been trenched and drained
by the proprietor, with money borrowed under the Drainage Act;
but the improvement was not finished, and no advantage in the
way of an increased supply of food has consequently been reaped
fi?om it during the present season. At the end of this little Ire-
land stands Broadford Inn, where I found excellent quarters; and,
as the Dunvegan coach, which was expected that evening, was
prevented by a storm from crossing Kyle-Akin ferry tiU far on
next morning, I had ample opportimi^ of completing my inquiries
into the condition of Strath.

LETTEE XX.

Crofters and Cottars in Strath— Refasal of Leases— The Tme Reason of this
Policy— Emigration - Poor-Rate— Loss of Rent to Proprietor— Stoppage of
Operations undw Drainage Act

There is a numerous body of small crofters in the parish of
Strath. The rents paid to the proprietor by this class vary from 10s.
to £10 per annum ; but in few instances do they reach the higher
sum. The crofts, too small at first, have been subdivided to such
an extent that three and four families frequently occupy the piece of

IfiLE OF SKTE. 97

land that was formeriy intended for one. Yet it is very common to
find a cottar and his family attached to one of these small posses-
sions of the crofters. The parish minister informed me that the
femilies of the cottars, or persons without holdings, amount to
800 souls in Strath alone ; and these are scattered over the large
farms of the tacksmen, or huddled among the abready impove-
rished and overburdened crofters. A more unsolid system of so-
ciety, or one more calculated to engender misery and pauperism,
could not possibly be constructed, even though the arch-enemy of
human happiness himself were to exert his ingenuity to develop
the principles of social disorder by which he could best accom-
plish his ends. And hence arises an important query. Lord
Macdonald grants no leases to his crofters. He is determinedly
opposed to every regulation tending to confer upon the people a
certainty of tenure in the soil which they cultivate ; and the rea-
son alleged for pursuing this course is, that by keeping the crofts
under yearly control, his Lordship is enabled to check the evil ten-
dencies of the system. But he and his predecessors having retained
this control from the very origin of the croft system, how does
it happen that matters have come to their present miserable pre-
dicament ? Had the people been the owners of their crofts, or
had they been invested with such security of tenure as left them
free to do their own pleasure with the soil, they alone would have
been to blame for the subdivision and the wretchedness in which
the experiment has issued. But by repudiating leases, and insist-
ing upon keeping the crofts and the crofters under strict annual
control. Lord Macdonald and others similarly situated have really
made themselves responsible for the present deplorable position
of the people ; and to this dilemma we are fully entitled to reduce
them. They have refused leases on the plea that they might have
• power to check the evil tendencies of a system of small holdings,
and yet these evil tendencies have been allowed to grow to an
extreme of mischief which could scarcely have been anticipated
by the most sensitive alarmist. This is a matter of which the
lease-refusing proprietors are bound to render an account.

The truth is, we must look for some better explanation of the
theory of lease-refusing than is advanced by the apologists of the
Highland lairds. When the croft system was introduced, it was
never intended that the people should prosper on the soil. The
object nearest the landlords' hearts was to clear them from the
soil, and if possibly to sweep them from the country. If their

I

9S LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

purses had been as capacious as their hostility to the people, they
would never have stayed their hand till every man, woman, and
child had been shipped to a foreign shore. But the expense of
emigration, even upon the Duke of Argyle's low estimate of 4As,
per head, was too much for their slender means, and the project
had to be abandoned. The croft system was then introduced, as
a temporary expedient to facilitate the clearances, and to afford a
refuge to the outcasts till an opportunity should arise of trans-
porting them to their allotted homes in Australian or Canadian
wildernesses. Prom that day to this the idea of emigration has
never been relinquished by the Highland lairds. There is a lurk-
ing expectation in the minds of nearly all of them that they will
yet be able, by the help of Grovemment or public money, to ship
away the miserable population which swarms along their shores.
In order that the favourable moment may be seized when it comes,
it is necessary that the people hang loosely upon the soil. Leases
would be very awkward barriers. The people must not be per-
mitted to forget that the Highlands are not their home — ^that
they are only pilgrims — ^pilgrims from the interior glens of their
native country to the wilds of foreign lands — and that they are
merely camping for a little while on the shore, till the ships come,
and the winds blow, that are to carry them to their destined places
of abode. They must keep their lamps trimmed, and be ready
on an hour's warning to set out on a long journey to the other
side of the world. Why attempt to ward off the evil tendency
of a system which is already doomed P Why make any effort to
improve the condition of people who are on their march to another
hemisphere, and from whom we have nothing either to hope or
fear ? Leave them to themselves. Let them marry, subdivide,
and multiply, till they are ready to eat each other up in the struggle
for existence. When things are at the worst they will mend.
The more deplorable and hopeless the extremity to which matters
come, the more cogent the reasons for wholesale expatriation, and
the more urgent the necessity for Grovemment to interfere, so that
when the night is darkest then will come the dawn. These are
the silent cogitations and the secret hankerings in the minds of
the Highland lairds, which paralyse improvement, which wither
up the soul of enterprise, and which* undermine every humane
and every patriotic resolution. The chiefs do not believe in the
improvability of the people. They suspect, distrust, and throw
contempt upon their own blood. They want faith — ^fiaith, which

ISLE OP SKTB.

9Q

is the mamspring of all success — faith in that God who has made
of one blood all the nations of the earth, and who has infused into
our common nature the iuexlingiiishable elemeats of Improvement
aud progression. The refusal of leSiSes is the sign of neglect, and
not of coutroh Leases are eovenants of duties, aa well ns of rights.
While they secure the tenant's riglit to the fruits of his toil, they
require Mm to he skilful, industrious, provident, and generous.
When a landlord wishes to improvCj and to bhid down his tenant*
to a course of improYCment, ho grants leases, and gives expression
and effect to hk principles through their conditions* But when
a landlord is indifferent and reckless he refuses leases, and stands
np for tenancy-at-will ; and tliia is the course which has found
favour with the Highland Lairds.

In point of subdivision of the crofts and what is commonly
called over-population (hj which term it is always safe to under-
stand an excess of population beyond the resources of a given part,
and not of the whole, of the soil)j the Isle of Skye is in a still
worse condition than any of the districts of the matoland which
I have visited. The population of Strath, with the exception of
the cottars, whom I have represented as nunibciiog 800 souls, are
all holders of laud ; and yet though amounting in 18'tl to 3,160,
the annual vaJne of real property in 18 i3 was only £3,026 Is. 9d.
But it may show how little tbis annual rcntid, small as it is, is
endangered by the poor-rates^wldch one would naturally expect
to find as an accompaniment of so large a population— to state
that the whole sum expended on the poor in the year ending Feb-
ruary, 18 i5, vras oidy £17 13 s. lOd.* It must not be supposed,
however^ that there is no pauperism in the parish. The amount
of pauperism is tmly enormous ; but it is relieved in another way
than by poor-rates, and the saving to the rental by the exemption
from poor assessment is far more than balanced by the cost at
which that exemption is purchased. Lord Macdondd lets part of
his land to sheep-gr adders, whose system of husbandry cannot af-
ford to pay the amount of rent which the soil would yield mider a
thorough cultivation of its resources ; and he lets another part of
it to crofters, whose rents are irreguhirly and sometimes never
p^aid, and who are consequently paupers in disguise. He thus loses
in two ways to a large though an uncalculated amount, while his

♦ See Appendix, No. II.

100 LETTERS PROM THE HIGFHLANDS.

whole gain consists in the difference of a few pounds per cent, m
the amount of his poor's tax. The Highland proprietors cannot
both support the poor by assessment and throw their rents away
upon indolent graziers and pauperised crofters ; so that as soon as
the poor law is enforced upon them, they wiU be compelled to alter
the whole system. With so small a distribution of parochial re^
lief, and so poor a population, the calls upon the Central Relief
Board last season was necessarily immense. Two thousand bolls of
meal were distributed in the parish, and I can see no grounds to ex-
pect that the necessity may not be equally great before next har-
vest, and every succeeding year, so long as the present aUocation
and management of the soil are persisted in. Here, as at Kyle Ehea»
some small parceb of land remained unsown for want of seed.
Lord Macdonald commenced in spring to reclaim considerable tracts
of waste moor under the Drainage Act, by which it is proposed to
increase the size of the small holdings ; but the works in the mean-
time are suspended, and it is uncertain when they may be resumed,
on account, it is said, of some diilicalty in getting the necessary
advances from the Government. The Drainage Act requires that
the works be advanced to a certain stage before the money is sent
down from the Treasury ; and it would appear that the improve-
ments in Skye have been spread over a larger surface than the
capital at command can overtake, and matters have consequently
come to a ^ — ^the Government refusing to advance, because the
works are standing still, and the works standing still because the
Grovemment refuses to advance.

LETTER XXI.

Want of Plantationa in Skye— Profits of the Kelp Manufacture— Extravagance
of the Highland Chiefs— Its Results.

The reproach of nakedness which Dr. Johnson brought against
the Hebrides may still be applied with equal truth, and, at this
advanced day, with much more reason, to a large part of Skye. I
travelled from Broadford to Portree without seeing a single plan-
tation^ though there is an immense deal of ground that cannot be

ISLE OF SKTE.

101

turned to a profitable use in anj other way. The cHmate— tliat
scapegoat wkick has to hear the weight of so many Highland sins
—is also blamed for the want of wood. Trees, it is said, do not
thrive in Skyc, But^ in opposition to tliis pretext, we have the
most unexceptionable evidence. The minister of Strath writes, in
the *' New Statistical Acconnt," that "all the varieties of planted
timher thrive well when duly fenced atid preserved" In the same
work it is stated in reference to Duirinish, one of the most exposed
parishes in Skye, that " the larch is the most congenial tree to the
soU and climate ; but a great variety of other trees, such m oak,
ash^ plane, beech, alder, and hirch, are found to thrive pretty well,
notwithstanding the violence of the sea-blast to wliich they arc
constantly exposed," It is evident, moreover, from the tnmks of
trees which are found embedded in the mosses, that the ishmd was
not always so bare of wood as at the present day ; and there is just
sufficient wood growing in the present day to prove that no altera-
tion has taken place in the climate to prevent the island from being
as well stocked with timber as ever it was. At Portree there arc
several beautiful and thriving plantations, in reference to which
the minister, writing in 1SJ^1, observes : ** The greater part of these
plantations are only a few years old, aud therefore the trees can-
not be of any great siac. At Eaa&ay, however, there arc old trees
of considerable size, such as are seen in the vicinity of towns, cas-
tles, and in forests, either in the Highlanchi or in the low country
of Scotland." And after expressing his opinion that " no improve-
ment whatever could be more profitable, or of greater advantage^
both to proprietors and teimnts, than the planting of wood," he
naively concludes, that *nhis, however, un4er exinHng circunisiaH-
ceif k a matter more to he wished for than expected." Tnily,
where capital has not been spared to trench and drain the soil—
improvements which yield an immediate rctnTn— it is hopeless to
expect that any outlay will he made on planting, the fruits of which
can only be reaped after the lapse of Mteen or twenty years. Plant-
ing is the slowest of all speculations. Ko man can engage in it
who has not money which he can aftord to leave to his heirs. Nu-
merous plantations are therefore one of the surctst signs of opulence ;
and the straitened means and biting poverty of Skye could not
be more clearly proved or more vividly pictured than by the peeled
and naked aspect of its treeless sod.

Wlicn Dr. Jolinson visited the Hebrides, the lairds were only
begmiiing to draw money-rents from their estates. A proprietor

I 2

102 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

of one of the islands declared to him that " he should be very rich
if he could set his land at 2 Jd. an acre." Every one knows how
very different it is now. Since then rents have undergone a four-
fol4 ft six-fold, and even a ten-fold increase, and the Highland
proprietors have reaped the benefit of the kelp manufacture,
the profits of which far exceeded, in many cases, the rental of
the land itself. We have heard of Highland proprietors receiving
£10,000, and some £12,000 and £14,000 a-year from kelp alone.
This golden tide might have borne along with it into feudal castles
the mercantile idea of accumulation, and with accumulation there
would have been the power and the opportunity of making large
investments in the improvement of the soil. If Skye has not been
extensively planted with trees since Dr. Johnson's visit, the fault
is the lairds'; though it is not so clear that blame could be at-
tached to them at a period when their meagre rents were paid in
lambs and black cattle.

There is no more interesting passage in Adam Smith's " Wealth
of Nations" than that in which he describes how commerce and
manufactures gradually broke down the power of the feudal barons,
and promoted the improvement and cultivation of the country. In
rude times a landed proprietor could find no way of consuming his
revenue but by sharing it with a multitude of retainers, who were
necessarily always at las command, whether in peace or war. But
when commerce and manufactures arose, they spread before his eyes
numerous articles of curious workmanship and dazzling material,
the enjoyment of which could be lavished entirely upon himself.
His vanity was tickled; and for a diamond buckle, or a gilded coach,
he bartered the produce which would have maintained 1,000 men
for a year. His revenue was now dispersed among tradesmen and
artificers, who were not directly paid by him, wlxo did not derive
from him a thousandth part, perhaps, of their subsisteuce, and who,
consequently, cared little either for his frowns or his smiles. Thus
feU the power of the feudal barons ; and the inhabitants, relieved
from the insecurity and extortion inflicted upon industry by their
perpetual feuds, applied themselves with greater ardour to the cul-
tivation and improvement of the soil.

Towards the close of last century, the rise of rents and the
profits of kelp brought the Highland chiefs within the reach of
the same temptations to which the English and Lowland barons
had yielded a century earUer. They introduced them into the
splendid warehouses and saloons of London, filled with the richest

ISLE OF SKTE. 103

handiwork and the rarest and costliest luxuries which the in-
genuity of man could devise, or the unwearied energies of com-
merce could coUect. There, too, were the English aristocracy,
with their princely equipages and their glittering wealth, to excite
emulation and to ruffle pride. The effect was the same as when
a hawker of the backwoods spreads out his toys, and trinkets,
and fire-waters, before a tribe of Indians. The vanity of the
Highland chiefs was intoxicated, and the solid advantages which
the new tide in their affairs had opened up to them were bartered
for the merest baubles. There is a staircase-window in Lord
Macdonald's mansion in Skye which is said to have cost £500.
In residences, dress, furniture, equipages, pleasures, and style of
living, the Highland chiefs copied the Englisli model ; and while
they necessarily lost their power by this new way of life, the only
resources by which their rugged country and its untutored in-
habitants could liave been brought into a cultivated and civilised
condition, were wasted in the vain attempt to rival the magnifi-
cence of an aristocracy who possessed much richer domains and
larger revenues. The decay of the kelp manufacture completed
the ruin which personal extravagance had begun ; and the men
who had long reaped the profits of this lucrative trade passed
from the scene, leaving their estates as unimproved as they had
found tliem, a numerous population starving, and rentals reduced
far below their nominal amount by the ajmual charges of their
mortgages. The heirs of this poor inheritance occupy a difficult
and painful position. They are entitled to sympathy and indul-
gence. There is only one way by which they can hope to gain
their lost ground, to improve their estates, or even to transmit
them, in a state worth possessing, to their children. They must
forsake the world, forswear pomp and fashion, retire to their
country seats, live penuriously, and spend in the improvement of
their properties the last fartlung of their rentals which they can
spai-e from the consumption of their families. A generation of
economy may possibly repair the disasters of a generation of waste.
The want of timber in Skye is an obstacle to the most neces-
sary improvements. The people cannot build better cottages, or
even repair the wretched ones in which they live.* The erection

* The mode in which the hovels in the Highlands are bnilt is thus de-
iBcribed in the statistical account of Duirinish : — " The walls are nnconmionly
broad, in some instances six or even seven feet. Properly speaking, there are

104 LETTERS FROM THE mGHLANDS.

of fann-offices and the enclosure of tlie fields are also made more
difficult of attammeut than they would be were there plenty of
woods. As a matter of utility, as well as of ornament, there*
fore, plantations are one of the prime necessities of Skye.

LETTEE IXII.

The Feeble Character of Affrlooltare in Skje— Exceptions— An Extensive Moor
—Great Extent of Waste Land in Doirinish— The Macleod— Social Condition of
the People— Habits of the Women— Remedies— Macleod's Store— Monopolies
of the Rich.

A STRANGER accustomed to the well-ploughed fields, the straight
deep furrows, the trim hedge-rows, and the busy farm-yards of
the Lowlands, cannot fail to be struck with the contrast presented
by the rural exterior of Skye. Had war or pestilence swept over
the island eight or ten years ago, cutting down all the strong and
the able bodied, and leaving none but little boys and old women
to do the labour of the fields, Skye, in these circumstances, would
have been much the same in its external appearance as under its
present alleged redundancy of population. An immense proportion
of the soil fit for tillage lies in all the rude waste of nature. Every
object wears the desolate aspect of a place deserted by the hand
of industry. Land unploughed and unenclosed ; houses bare, dila-

two walls, built at the distance of eighteen inches or two feet from each other.
This vacant space is filled up with earth, and the whole covered over at the
top with green sod. The rafters are rested on the inner edge of the inner
wall, instead of being placed on the outer edge, as in other places ; conse-
quently there is a considerable breadth of the wall left completely exposed,
and the rain, of course, enters here, and continually deluges the house. But
the people, while they are anxious to exclude the wind, seem to have no dread
of damp. I have seen two sheep grazing abreast on the top of one of these
walls, and they might easily give room to a third. Two men might walk
round on some of them, without any danger of felling off." The people of
Tiree turned the tops of their walls to a new use this last season. Those of
them who were scarce of land sowed the garden-seeds sent them by the Ladies*
Association round the roofs of their huts. I am told that the cottages, sur-
mounted with rows of cabbages, have a veiy singular and £px)tesque appearance.

ISLE OF SKTB. 105

pidated, and imapproached by roads or foot-paths; ditches chokefall
of weeds and stagnant water ; huge mosses and heathy uplands, re-
lieved only by dreary tracts of withered and whitened pasture, from
which the fewreniaining traces of formertillage are rapidly disappear-
ing, and only make the desolation more striking by calling up the
remembrance of busier and happier times. Man, instead of con-
quering the difficulties of the soO, has here penidtted the difficul-
ties of the soil to conquer 1dm. The very furrows are bent and
twisted in accommodation to every little piece of rocky or marshy
ground ; and in the feeble and crooked character of these plough-
marks you may read as distinctly as if it had been inscribed in
letters the weak and timorous spirit of the cultivators. You
look in vain for any signs of a firm, bold, masterly dominion of
the soil. There is none of that Titan energy which drains swamps,
levels lieights, fills up hollows, grinds the very rocks, and stamps
images of power, order, and beauty, upon the face of Nature,
The agriculture of Skye, on the contrary, is feeble as the feeble-
ness of infancy — ^more indeed like the puny scratching of savages
than the powerful agriculture of civilised life.

To tliis general character there are some honourable exceptions.
In the neiglibourhood of Portree, I had the satisfaction of seeing
a fine green crop growing upon a piece of land, which two or three
years ago was a dangerous quagmire. The thorough trenching
to wliicli this marsh was subjected was the means of exhuming
the skeleton of a horse belonging to a pedlar, who, wliile plying
his vocation witliin doors, allowed the poor animal to stray about
outside till it sank irretrievably in the bog. Yet, coarse and al-
most hopeless as tlds piece of ground was, tlie improver considers
that he was repaid for Jiis outlay by lus first crop. Cases of this
kind deserve to be noticed, both in justice to those who are act-
ing as the pioneers of improvement, and also because they are ex-
ceptions which prove the rule — successful examples of that agri-
cultural enterprise, the want of which I have been censuring in
others.

On approaching Dunvegan fromPortree,! passed through a moor
of great extent and very peculiar appearance. As far as the eye
could reach on every side, heights and hoUows were equally covered
with a thick coat of mossy substance, producing a luxuriance of
bent grass which waved and glistened like a crop of flax. Soil
which puts forth bent so abundantly might reasonably be expect-
ed, by means of draining, to yield more useful crops ; but it is pro-

106 LETTERS FBOM THE HI6HLANDS.

bable that the very extent of this wilderness has prevented the
idea of its improvement. And amidst the loud and numerous com-
plaints that are made of over-population, it is truly cheering to
know that in Buirioish there is even little necessity, for the pre-
sent at least, of falling back upon this moor, inviting as it seems.
Of the land of this parish the " New Statistical Ajccount" gives the
following information i —

" There are 1,900 acres now [1841] in cultivation, and upwards of 8,000
wMch were onoe cultivated, but are now in pasture. There are about 40,000
acres which have always remained waste. There are 12,000 of these that might
be brought into tillage, 4,000 of which would probably yield a good return for
the expense. The remainder, however, would require a greater outlay of capital
than it would be prudent to expend upon them.'*

It is delightful to observe the gradation of resources which
Nature has here provided to meet the wants of an expanding
population. Three thousand acres once cultivated, but now in
pasture — 4,000 acres of waste that wiU yield " a good return'^
for the expense of cultivation — 8,000 acres more capable of being
brought into tillage by an outlay which appears scarcely prudent,
according to the present agricultural notions of Skye — ^and lastly,
a residue of 28,000 acres, of which, intractable as they may seem
in the present infancy of improvement, it is difficult to say what
opinion may be formed in the mature age of agricultural science
— form, it must be confessed, a very pleasing succession of ter-
ritory to which the population may retreat as they find their
numbers pressing upon the limits of subsistence. Last year the
trying position of Macleod of Macleod excited general sympathy,
and drew forth substantial aid. It will gratify the friends of the
Macleod to know that the battle in which he is engaged is not a
hopeless one, but that in the vicinity of his Castle of Dunvegan
there is an abundance of waste lands to employ the labour and
supply the wants of his people for a century at least. The popu-
lation of Duirinish was 3,227 in 1811, and 4,983 in 1841. These
figures neither exhibit a large population in proportion to the na-
tural resources of the parish, nor a large increase in proportion to
the average increase of other parts of the kingdom. The same
remarks will hold true of Skye in general, which cannot be so
justly accused of having increased its population too rapidly as of
having improved its lands and increased its means of subsistence
too slowly.

Of the population of Duirinish, 3,000 are poor : that is, sup-

ISLE or SEYE.

107

porting tlieiriselves with difficulty in the hest timea, and, under an
affliction like that of kst year, dependent upon all kinds of relief
fimds for the snpport of a wretched existence. In the adjoming
parish of BmcadalCj the whole of which is the property of Macleod,
there are 1,500 in a similar contiition. The same system of large
sheep-walks and petty crofts prevails in this as in other districts
of Skye. Tlie people eke out the produce of their patches of lund
hy fisliing for cod and liug, which are said to be caught with great
ease in the Minch, To encourage this branch of industTj as much
as possible, Maclcod buys tlie iish from the people, which he cures
and sends into market on his own account. It is observed that
the crofters who fish diHgeutly pay their rents with pimctualityj
while those wlio arc negligent in this respect are in arrears and
in misery. The clothiugj furniture, and hovels of the people bear
every mark of extreme poverty ; the children are ])ale and ema*
ciateJd; and the dirty and slovenly habits which characterise many
of the women serve to a^^gravate the discomforts entailed by nar-
row means. Domestic order, econoiny, and cleanliness, arc ideas
which seem never to have entered into the minds of a lai-ge pro-
portion of the female population. To boil a pot of potatoes, or
mix a brose of metd and water, is their highest attahimcnt in the
art of cookery; and you can sec, from their dirty and ragged cloth-
ing, that in the operations of wasbingj dressings and mending, they
are equally deficient, A few pieces of cstst-off dress are dabbled
occasionally in the nearest stream, and spread out on the green
bank, with a heavy stone on the top of e^ach to prevent them from
being lifted by the wind, and there left to bleach and diy, and some-
times to rot, as the natural changes of the weather may dictate.
Of the interior of the cottages it is needless to apeak, so long as
these consist, for the most part, of only one apartiuent, in wliich
the family and the cattle find the same accommodation. The first
requisites of cleanhncss and of decency are wanting. The women
manage their cows very negligently, though t hey keep them imder
the same roof with themselves. Kegularity in the hours of milk-
ing is seldom observed. Poor Cmmmie is somethnes relieved of
her treasure at an early hour in the morning, and sometimes not
till mid-day, as the wants of the family happen to he more or less
pressing; and thus one of the main elements of subsistence is ren-
dered much less productive than it would be by a little care and
attention. It is necessary to allude to these matters^ because it
is impossible that any change for the better can take place with

108 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

the present habits of tlie female population. The improvement
of the homes of the people must precede, or at least be coeval
with, the improvement of the crofts. The Highland women are
not without some good qualities, and they are free from many of
the vices which too frequently stain the female cliaracter in other
parts of the country. During the whole of my inquiries in the
Highlands I have never seen or heard of a drunken woman. Their
defects in household duties arc the residt of want of training and
experience, and of the necessity entailed upon them of working in
the crofts while their husbands are engaged from home at day-
labour ; and not of any acquired vices to which the same defects
are generally traceable in more artificial states of society. The
true remedy, therefore, will be found in the establishment of in-
dustrial schools, combined with requisite improvements in the con-
struction of the cottages and in the size and culture of the crofts.
To effect a complete revolution in the manners of the adult women
may be an impossible task, but the young are susceptible of any
ideas and habits which you choose to impress upon them ; and if
the civilization of the Highlands be really a work which the Go-
vernment believes itself bound either to undertake or promote, one
of its first steps should be to plant in every hamlet a thoroughly
equipped school, in which, in addition to the usual branches of
education, the young of both sexes would be drilled in every exer-
cise necessary to prepare them for their respective departments of
the business of life.

The Macleod has established, at Dunvegan, a public store for
retailing groceries and articles of general consumption. This prac-
tice is not uncommon in the Highlands on the part of the landed
proprietors ; and it is worthy of consideration how far so unusual
a step is becoming or advisable. In remote Higliland districts there
is necessarily great difficulty in establishing good retail shops; and
the want of them proves a serious obstacle to the comfort and even
the improvement of the population. In this light the introduction
of shops is well worthy of the attention of a landlord. But shops
established and carried on by proprietors, and necessarily dealing
with their own tenants and labourers, bear a strong resemblance
to the truck system ; and we should not be surprised to find them
attended with some of its evils. Complaints are made at Dunve-
gan of the high prices charged at the laird's store ; and, upon in-
quiry, they seemed to me to be considerably above the prices com-
mon in rural villages. But it does not foUow that Macleod is

ISLE OF SKYE. 109

making inordinate gains by his shop-keeping. He requires to com-
mit the management of his store to paid servants, whose wages
.must come off the first of the profits, and who cannot be expected
to apply the same care and economy to the business which a man
usually devotes to his own concerns. A gentleman, moreover, of
Macleod's standing, is not likely to buy his goods so cheaply in
the wholesale market as a tradesman with perhaps equal command
of cash, but much humbler pretensions ; and I should also suppose
that he will sell at equal disadvantage. His position as lan(Uord
and superior over a poor population will naturally expose him to
losses, which an ordinary tradesman can avoid. In these circum-
stances, he must sell his goods at high prices ; and nothing is more
likely than that his shop-keeping will expose him to loud complaints
from his customers, without doing any good for himself. Had
Macleod selected a man out of the common walks of life in whom
he had confidence, and assisted him by his credit in procuring a
supply of goods till he was able to stand upon his own footing,
he would have done aU the good which he intends, without incur-
ring any of the evil.

Macleod is also a sheep-farmer, an innkeeper, a coach-proprie-
tor, and a shipowner ; and, by this multiplicity of engagements,
he only fulfils what seems to be an essential condition of rank and
importance in Skye. In every part of th* island you find the most
multifarious and incongruous professions conjoined in the same
person. The sheep-graziers are also cloth-merchants, factors, meal-
mongers, and inspectors of the poor ; and the very ministers of the
sanctuary are seen chaffering as store-farmers in the wool and the
flesh markets. This system is injurious in every respect. It di-
vides society into two extreme classes, one of which it exalts and
the other it humiliates. In Skye the rich monopolise all profits
and emoluments, while the reins of social oppression are tightened
to the utmost stretch of endurance over the necks of the poor.

110 LETTERS FROM THE HIOHLAllDS.

LETTEK XXIII.

The Skye Memorial in favour of Emigration— Inconsistency of its Facts and Con-
clusions—Wants of the Population— Capabilities of the Island — Scheme for
the Employment of the People at Home— Its Practicability— Its Advantages —
Wholesale Emigration an Expensive and Endless Remedy.

During tlie distress of last year, the gentlemen of Skye pre-
sented a memorial to Government, remarkable for the contrariety
of its premises and its conclusion. This curious document, which
is safely deposited in the Home Office, though never submitted to
the public, commences by showing how the people may all be pro-
fitably employed and comfortably subsisted at home, and ends by
recommending, as the only effectual remedy for destitution, a
wholesale system for carrying them abroad. According to this
memorial, there are 16,000 acres of arable land in Skye, of
which 6,000 are in the hands of large graziers, and 10,000 in the
hands of crofters and other small occupiers. There are supposed
to be about 5,000 families, one-half of whom have land, and the
other half have none. The average amount of arable land, there-
fore, in the possession of each of the small occupiers, is about four
acres. There are thirty large tenants in aU, each of whom have
consequently, on an average, 200 acres of arable. The extent
of improvable land — ^land reclaimable from a state of waste, or
nearly waste — is set down at 20,000 acres. Such are the facts
with which the proprietors and sheep-farmers of Skye have thought
proper to preface their prayer for emigration. It is not to be sup-
posed that these figures are correct in every particular. They are
evidently rough calculations ; but stiH they are calculations by in-
dividuals who have the best means of ascertaining and proving tJie
truth of their suppositions. I have heard it doubted that the large
farmers have each on an average 200 acres of arable land. I, for
my part, could perceive no traces of cultivation to this extent on
the sheep-farms, and can only account for this estimate, and that
not very satisfactorily, by supposing that it may include the patches
of potato land sublet to shepherds and cottars, and forming part
of the wages of these parties for service to the graziers. The ex-
tent of improvable land is evidently under-rated at 20,000 acres.
It was shown, in my last letter, that there are 15,000 acres of

ISLE OF SETE. Ill

pasture and waste, admitted by a competent authority to be ca-
pable of tillage, in the parish of Duirinish alone. Of these, 3,000
acres are grazing, which were once cultivated ; and, taking Duiri-
nish as an average specimen of the extent to which arable land
has been converted into pasture, I would say that there is not
much short of 20,000 acres of this description of land alone in
Skye, without including a rood of the reclaimable mosses, moors,
and swamps, which fall more properly under the designation of
waste lands. I do not wish, however, to disturb the statistics of
the memorial. I am content to take them as they stand, and to
prove to the gentlemen of Skye, that, upon their own showing,
there is no necessity for that expatriation of the people for which
they crave the assistance of the public purse, but that the re-
sources of the island are amply sufficient to supply the wants of
its population — ^merely asking the reader to remember that the
data on which I proceed are the data, not of agricultural enthusi-
asts, but of men who had every inducement to under-estimate the
capability of the soil, and to exclude from consideration every acre
which was not manifestly susceptible of profitable improvement.

The great practical problem to be wrought out in Skye is, to
provide constant employment to the families who have no land,
and to raise those who have land to a position in which they will
be able to pay rent and maintain themselves out of the produce of
their farms. Of the former class there is said to be 2,500 families,
and I believe that six months' labour per annum, in addition to
their existing sources of employment, will be necessary to place
these families above the reach of want. Harvest work at home or
abroad, herring-fishing, and the ordinary labour of the island, may
be fairly supposed to occupy six months of the year. When pota-
toes were in vogue, the remaining six could be spent in idleness
without exposing the family to want of food ; but the loss of po-
tatoes renders labour at day-wages during that period indispen-
sable to their subsistence. To employ 2,500 heads of families at
Is. 6d. per day for six months would cost £29,250 ; and remune-
rative labour to this amount requires to be provided annually in
order to place the non-occupiers of land in Skye in a position of
independence and safety. Of the second class there are also sup-
posed to be 2,500 families. Some of these are already in a self-
supporting position— others are not. All who pay rents of £10
and upwards are of the first class ; while those whose rents are
under £10 are dependent more or less upon day-labour to com-

112 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

plete their means of subsistence. I calculate tliat 1,500, or three-
fifths of the land-occupying class, require employment during three
months of the year; and this, at Is. 6d. per day, will cost £8,776.
Whence, it follows, that the population of Skye can only be main-
tained at home by employment to the amount of £38,125 annually,
and to be continued annually till such time as, by the acquisition
of new land, or other means, they become independent of day-la-
bour. The question, therefore, is, can additional productive em-
ployment to this amount be provided in Skye ?

It is admitted to us, in the first place, that there are 20,000
acres of waste capable of being reclaimed and cultivated ; and I
do not suppose that a single doubt can remain on the mind of
any one that land to this extent may be selected from the uncul-
tivated wastes of Skye, every acre of which would afford a most
eligible investment for capitaL Waste land is reclaimed at an ex-
pense varying from £5 to £20 per acre, according to the nature of
the soil and the circumstances of its position. The latter sum is
about the maximum at which land can be reclaimed profitably in.
districts where, as in Skye, the climate and other drawbacks ren-
der land of less value when it is reclaimed than in more fertile
districts. It is difficult to ascertain the rent of arable land in
Skye, on account of its being let along with pasture ; but it is
not above the mark to state it at £1 or 30s. per acre. Land,
which yielded 30s. when reclaimed, would repay an expenditure
of £20 per acre in its reclamation ; but I will take the average
expense of improving the 20,000 acres in Skye at £10 per acre,
for which a rent of only £1 per acre would be a return of 10 per
cent. The reclamation of 20,000 acres, at the rate of £10 per
acre, would give employment to the extent of £200,000, or, in
other words, afford the productive labour requisite to maintain
the 2,500 families who have no land for a period of nearly seven
years. Then, in addition to these 20,000 acres of reclaimable
waste, there are 16,000 acres of arable land, on which many im-
provements are necessary. A large extent of it requires drain-
ing; some part of it would repay the expense of trenching ; and
on many of the small possessions, cultivation is at a stand for
want of enclosures. It will not be denied by any one acquainted
with the condition of the arable land in Skye, that it will bear an
average outlay of £2 per acre with the greatest advantage both to
landlord and tenant. The improvement of 16,000 acres at £2 per
acre would cost £32,000, and afford the requisite employment for

ISLE OF SKYE,

113

I

upwards of three years and a-lialf to the 1,500 occupiers of land
whom I have siupposed to be dependent for day-labour during
tlirce months of the year. Let it be supposed, therefore, that the
two chisaes are set respectively to work — the iiou-occupicrs of
laod reclaiming the 20,000 acres of waste, and the 1^500 occupiers
improving their own arable lands and the arable lands of the large
tenants. The latter will Lave employment for upwards of three
years ; and, by the end of this period, the fonner will have a suffi-
cient extent of new land rcelaimed to increaiie the holdings of the
small occupiers to the point, and above the point, at which they
are cupable of affording full employment and luaintenance to a
famdy. The non-occupiers will still have three years' work be-
fore them, and at tlie end of this period they wiU have brouglit
the remannng half of the 20/JOO acres into tihagej by means of
which one-half of them may he raised to the position of occupiers
of land, no longer dependent upon day-labour for subsistence.
If 3,500 families find employment for six months of the year in
the present condition of things, it is not unreasonable to expect
that 1,250 families could find full employnjcnt at day-labour after
20,000 acres have been added to the cultivated land of the island,
and 16,000 raised to a higher state of improve meat. The grand
result of the operation would be, that the non-occupiers of land
would be reduced one-htdf as effectually as if tliey had been reduced
by emigration; and, at the same time, the arable land of the small
occupiers would be increased from an average of four to an ave-
rage of eiglit acres each.

The great difficulty in the eyes of some wiD, no doubt, he to
procure the capital necessaxy to put these improvements in ope-
nition. But a little consideration wiU show that this difficulty is
not 80 formidable as it at first sight appears. The total cost of
the improvements is £232,000, but it is not necessary that a ca-
pital of tins amount be raised, for the obvious reason that capital
expended in the improvement of the soil rapidly reproduces it seH.
The outby upon tbo arable lands would very nearly he replaced
by the &st crop ; and it is a charge which may he met without
much difficulty by the landlords and tentrnts themselves. The
large tenants have means enough to effect their own improvements,
and many of the smaller occupiers may ako relieve the proprietors
of part, at least, of the expenditure, Tlie annual outlay is pro-
posed to be £6,775, for three years and a-half. The valued rental
of Skye is £23,070 is. 8d. The annual burden of the poor, ac-

K 2

114 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

cording to the latest returns, is only £364 19s. lO^d. Other rent
charges are equally light, and it seems no very hard matter that
proprietors, in these circumstances, and in an emergency when great
exertions and great sacrifices are indispensable, should apply for a
few years some fourth or fifth part of their annual income to im-
provements which directly increase the value of their property,
and would yield an interest the first year of the outlay. As to the
other part of the undertaking, I admit that the necessary funds
are not to be found in Skye. We will look in vain to this island
for a capital capable of reclaiming 20,000 acres of land, in a period
of six or seven years. But it does not follow that the resources
of Skye are not sufficient to meet the wants of its population. Its
resources have been wasted, and the necessity of calling in the aid
of extrinsic capital is the result and the penalty of that extrava-
gance. These waste acres ought to have been gradually reclaimed
as the population increased, at the expense of the annual rental.
But the annual rental was exhausted upon personal luxury, the
work of cultivation was put off while the population multiplied,
and now the evil day has come when works must be accompUshed
in six or seven, which ought to have been spread over thirty or
forty years. It is not to be wondered that the power of the Go-
vernment, the charity of the public, or the self-interest of the ca-
pitalist, should have to be appealed to in such a dilemma. It is
rather matter of wonder that the amount of assistance required is
so moderate and practicable as it is. Nominally it is £200,000 ;
but practically it is a great deal less. Waste land can only be re-
claimed by gradual steps. The improvement of every acre must
necessarily be spread over three years ; and each year it should be
made to bear a crop. Crop-bearing is an essential part of the pro-
cess of reclamation. The first year's crop in Skye would not do
more perhaps than repay the expense of seed and manure. The
second year would, in all probability, return the seed and manure,
and one-half the expense of labour. And the third year would cer-
tainly repay the entire outlay. When part of the land was thus
fully reclaimed, it would be let to tenants at an annual rent of, say
£1 per acre ; and this rental might be applied as part of the ca-
pital necessary to reclaim the remainder. According to these
calculations (as any one who chooses to run over the account will
find), 20,000 acres of waste land may be reclaimed in six years,
at an expense of £10 per acre, by means of a capital of little more
than £100,000, £20,000 or £30,000 of which would be returned

ISLE OP SKYE.

at the end of the sixth year, tlius leaving only £70,000 or £80,000
for permanent investment. Is the redemption of a populous
island like Skyc worth an oullay of £80,000 ? The Government
gave £10,000,mJO to feed the Irish during a period of temporary
starvation, on the equivocal condition that one-half shonld he re-
paid hy the landlords when they are able. The British public sub-
scribed ittst year nearly £150,000 as a clear donation to the starv-
ing Highlanders, for which they never expected to receive any
return, I cannot imagine how, in the face of these mnniliceiit
displays of puhlic and private generosity, it can be donbted for a
moment that JblOO^OOO would be readily advanced for an under-
taking wliich would give pennanent relief to Skyc, and, at the same
time, reward the donors with the nsnul bmsiness returns.

In making these calcidations I have taken the safe side in every
particular. I have assumed the acreage and population exactly
as the gentlemen of Skye have given tliem. I have shown bow
the wliole 5,000 families may be provided for, witliont making any
dednction for those employed as shejihcrds and servants on the
large farms, and as tailors, weavers j shoemakers, grocers, &c., in
the villages. The extensive imi)rovemeuts I have suggested, by
giving employment and wages to the mass of the population, would
increase the demand for every description of handicraftsmen ; and
when the reclamation of laud was completed, a new held of em-
ployment would be opened, both for tradesmen and labourers. In
the construction of the dweUing-honscs and otiices W'hich the in-
creased cultivation would render indispensable. The amraal rental,
doubled in amoimt, would he more capable than ever of aceom-
plisliing these permanent w^orks ; and, with improved build inga,
the husbandry, moridity, and social manners of the island would
ail take a step in advance.

Tliis scheme is not incompatible with large farras» The sheep-
farmers would still retain their 20O acres of arable land ; and their
immense ranges of pasture would be undiminished except by the
20,000 acres of reclaimed land, and the necessary quantity of hill
ground to lay out these 20,000 acres into complete farms. These
changes would certainly make inroads upon the cherished solitude
of the sheep- walks j but it would still leave the large tenants in
possession of farms large enough to satisfy any moderate ambition.

1 appeal to the gentlemen of Skye if such a scheme as 1 have
rapidly sketched he not preferahle, hi every pohit of view, to any
system of forced and wholesale emigration. If it be ohjected that

116 LETTERS. FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

the people are too indolent to undergo the labour of such an un-
dertaking, the same objection may be brought against emigration ;
for the emigrants must submit to still greater hardships in clear-
ing and reclaiming the wastes of a foreign land, without that love
of country to animate and sustain them which would find power-
ful play in restoring the waste places of their native island. If
they would increase the demand for our manufactures in some co-
lonial settlement, they would be still more certain to become good
customers if well employed in Skye, and, as well as a source of
trade, they would there prove an important element of national
defence. Even upon the ground of expense, home colonization is
preferable to foreign. Emigration, to be effectual, must carry off
the 2,500 families who have no land ; and, in order to make a pros-
perous settlement, each of these families should have cash suffi-
cient to pay their freight, to purchase a piece of land, and to sup-
port themselves till they are able to reap their first crop. They
could not leave our shores with less than £20 for each family, with-
out exposing themselves to inevitable disaster; and even this would
require a sum of £50,000, or one-half the capital necessary to pro-
vide for them permanently at home. This sum, moreover, would
be lost to the country as irretrievably as if it were thrown into the
sea. Skye would remain as much a wilderness as ever, and in a
few years the rebound of population would revive the old difficul-
ty. Erom August, 1771, to October, 1790, eight large transports
sailed from Skye with 2,400 emigrants, with £2,400, freight in-
cluded. The same process has been frequently repeated since, but
still the cry is " emigration !" The task to which the gentlemen
of Skye have invited the Grovemment would be as endless and^as
fruitless as the roUing of Sisyphus' stone. But employ the people
at home, train them to industry, raise their standard of comfort,
increase their intelligence, and, with the proper checks upon the
subdivision of land, you may safely trust to that natural and volun-
tary egress which preserves the balance of population and subsist-
ence in other districts of the country.

ABISAIO. 117

LETTEE XXIV.

Arisaig— Highland Inquisitiveness— A Woollen Weaver— Condition of Tradesmen
— ^Destitution of Crofters and Cottars— Heartless Conduct of Lord Cranstoun—
Functions of Bent— Waste Land— Educational Destitution.

I SAILED from Portree by one of the Glasgow steamers, and.
landed on the mainland at Arisaig, which will be remembered as
one of the districts that suffered most severely last season. Ari-
saig forms part of the huge parish of Ardnamurchan, and is in-
cluded within the bounds of Inverness-shire, though Ardnamurchan
Proper belongs to the county of Argyle. A bay of the sea, guarded
at its mouth by a ledge of sunk rocks, flows into the heart of the
populated part of the estate. At the head of this bay stands Ari-
saig House, sheltered by extensive plantations ; and at a little dis-
tance from its north-eastern shore are the inn, the Bx)man Catholic
chapel, the school-house, the shops, and the few straggling houses,
which are all that Arisaig has to show in the form of a village.
The place has an air of romantic beauty. I went ashore on the
north side of the bay, and directed my steps to a solitary cottage,
the inmate of which came to the door to inquire my errand, where
I belonged to, whither I was going, and what news I had brought
from the last place I had left. The proverbial inquisitiveness of
the Highlanders, which has given so much annoyance to some, has
always been a source of great advantage to me. I wanted infor-
mation : so did they. It was therefore our mutual interest to be
communicative ; and I never scrupled to satisfy their curiosity,
upon the equitable condition, that for every question that was put
to me they should answer one of mine. The queries of the cottager
at Arisaig gave me a key to such information as he could give. I
learned that he was a woollen weaver, very ill employed, worse
paid, and in much distress. I was asked at length to step into
the interior of the cottage. At one end stood the loom, and at
the other a fire of brushwood burned weakly on the earthen floor.
A deal-board resting upon a few large stones, and serving the pur-
poses of a bed, and a dresser containing a few bowls and plates,
formed the only furniture of the apartment. The floor was very
cleanly swept, and the poor man's wife had evidently done every-
thing in her power to make things comfortable; but the bare stone

118 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

walls, and the large smoke-hole in the roof, through which the
wind swirled in cold draughts, gave the house a very desolate ap-
pearance. This family had a cow, but- the pressure of the famine
compelled them to part with her. They had also been warned to
remove, and upon asking the husband for what reason, he said he
could not teU, unless it was because he had not paid the rent of last
year's potato-ground. I inquired why he had not paid it, and he
replied that an act of Parliament was passed, exemptiug poor people
from paying rent for potato-ground when the potatoes failed. An
attempt, he said, had been made to turn him out by force ; but he
had barred his door, for there was another act of Parliament which
did not allow a poor man's door to be broken up. There was much
delusion in these remarks ; but they reveal a dependence upon the
arm of the law for protection, which is infinitely better than that
distrust of the law which characterises a similar class of people in
the sister island — a dependence which the Legislature, I would
hope, will be wise enough not to disappoint.

I have found everywhere in the Highlands that tradesmen are
the most destitute class of the population. Where the mass of
the people are so poor, food is the only necessary of life. Shoes
and articles of clothing are luxuries ; and when a pinch comes, the
tailor, the shoemaker, and the weaver, are the first to find no de-
mand for their labour. This poor weaver showed me a piece of
cloth which had remained with him all summer, because the owner
was too poor to pay him for his work upon it.

There are sixty-eight families in Arisaig who pay rent to the
proprietor ; eighteen families are sub-tenants ; and forty are with-
out any land. The size and mode of cultivating the crofts are the
same as I have described in other districts. Formerly nothing but
potatoes were grown, and a planting of six barrels has been known
to yield as many as a hundred. This last season com was grown
instead, and a return of four or five bolls of meal is all which most
of the crofters have to maintain their families upon tiU another
harvest. There is no necessity of speculating as to the time when
destitution wiU begin in this district. The forty families who have
no land are perpetually in destitution ; and the crofters will be
equally wretched as soon as their two or three months' supply of
meal is exhausted. There is no work whatever going on upon the
estate. Lord Cranstoun and his factor are both absentees. The
one lifts the rent, and the other carries it off and consumes it ; and
this comprehends the whole of the relation between landlord and

ARISAIG. 119

tenant in Arisaig. It was with mncli ado Lord Cranstoun was
prevailed upon to employ fifteen or sixteen men for a few weeks,
when the destitution was at its height, in trenching a field attached
to the mansion-house ; and the work was conmienced so late in
the year that no crop could be raised — a quantity of human food
being thus lost by sheer mismanagement, which would have con-
siderably mitigated the distress of this winter. Except for the
supplies of meal sent into the district by the Central Relief Board,
many would have inevitably perished of hunger last season in Ari-
saig. The Board as usual exacted work as the condition of relief,
and road-making was the occupation to which the people were ap-
plied. But very little progress was made. The workers were prin-
cipally old men; and to make matters worse, Lord Cranstoun, with
incomprehensible unfeelingness, refused even to supply them with
the necessary tools ! Such examples of obstinate incfifference on
the part of proprietors may well -shake the faith of the country in
any remedy short of a compulsory law in behalf of the unemployed.
The land rental of Arisaig is somewhere about £1,200 per an-
num. The population is 1,250. A pound per head is the rela-
tive proportion of rent and population in Skye, and some of the
most destitute districts of the West Highlands. The population
must necessarily be very poor on an estate where there is a hu-
man being for every pound which goes into the pocket of the land-
lord. Very probably Lord Cranstoun receives a larger share of
the annual produce of Arisaig than the whole 1,250 souls put to-
gether. To make up his rent the people toil, and save, and stint
themselves — ^living upon the scantiest and poorest fare, and scrap-
ing together every farthing they can lay their fingers upon, from
one year's end to another. It must be obvious to the most su-
perficial thinker, that a fund accumulated by so many hands, and
at the expense of so many sacrifices, must be designed to discharge
some very important functions, and that the prosperity of the
district in which it is raised must depend very essentially upon
the manner in which it is expended. A wise and reflecting land-
lord would feel an awful responsibility as that tribute was laid
term after term upon his rent-table. He would see in it the la-
borious savings of the people, and in himself the banker to whose
trust these savings were committed, to be laid out in a way by
which they would both be made available for the relief and em-
ployment of the people, and be returned periodically with interest
to his coffers. It is only by viewing rent in this light, and ap-

120 LETTERS FROM THE HIOHLANDS.

plying it accordingly, that the proprietor of such a place as Ari-
saig can discharge his duty, or the population be saved from dis-
tress. Rent, in such a community, forms the whole of that sur-
plus produce, of which Malthus has observed, that it is " the great
source of national power and happiness." There is no surplus
produce in any other hands than the landlord's. The people con-
sume all that remains of the annual produce above the landlord's
rent, and would consume a great deal more if it could be obtained.
Rent is therefore the only saving, the only capital, by which em-
ployment can be given in addition to what is already going on,
and, consequently, by which the present population can either be
relieved from their (fifficulties, or provision be made for the natu-
ral increase of their numbers. Lord Cranstoun had every induce-
ment to bend to these unpalatable but wholesome truths in his
management of Arisaig. He gave for that estate no equivalent
purchase-money. It did not even descend to him as a patrimonial
inheritance. He received it as a gift. Arisaig, with its £1,200
a-year, was a windfall to Lord Cranstoun, an unexpected addition
to his wealth, for which he never toiled, nor lost a sixpence. The
coldest heart might have warmed into generosity under this bril-
liant gleam of fortune. But Lord Cranstoun looked upon the
matter in a different light. He regarded his Highland estate as
simply entitling him to a wider round of pleasure ; and in the fa-
shionable saloons of London this English nobleman has squandered
in a few hours of luxury, without a grudge, the hundreds which
cost the poor people of Arisaig a year of toil and privation to col-
lect.*

Ear as population has been allowed to outstrip the means of
subsistence, the condition of Arisaig is still perfectly manageable.
There is a fine reclaimable moss quite contiguous to the crofts. A
stream runs through it, affording every facility for drainage. The
subsoil, I believe, is sand; and the shore is close at hand with abun-
dant supplies of seaware. This moss is rented by Mr. M*Callum,
Presbyterian minister of the district, who caused ten or twelve
acres to be trenched some while ago; but the improvement in
some way or other was mismanaged. He purposes to trench it
again, and expects to take a crop from it during the coming year.
It is admitted that 300 acres of excellent land may be recl^omed

* Since the above was written, I learn that Lord Cranstonn has sold the
estate of Arisaig to Mr. Mackay of Bighouse.

ABIBAIG.

121

from this moss alone^ which would be amply sufficient to increase
the crofts t^o tlie sustaining point.

The population of Arisaig are chiefly Homan Catholics, A new
chapel is in course of erect ioii, which is estitnated to cost £3,000.
It may give some idea of the educational destitution of the High-
lands to state, tlmt tliere is no adiooi in North Morar, none in
South Morar^ none in Mojdartj and only one in Arisaig. Each
of these districts would form a large Lowland parish in point of
area, and even of popaktion; and yet there is but onfi school in
tbc wliolc.

LETTER XXV.

Olenfi nn ttn-— Pdncc Ch arleji' Mow utnen t— The In »ari pdcii— Th o Iio C!lii(»l C ou ntry
— Dlsappearauce of the Okl Coitic Polity— DistreMod Couditfun. of the Crof-
lerff— >f[i]tli«isiiiii Reguldtlooa— A Crofter's Suggestion to the CentfiU Itellef

Theeb is an eixcellent road from Arisaig to Fort- William, through
a tract of coiumtTj characterised by the grandest features of High*
land sceiieryj and memorable by events which are deeply cngraTen
upon the page of history. A few miles from Arisaig, you pass the
nmnsion of Borrodale, M'here Prince Charles Edward first landed
on his arrival in Scotland, in the '45. Tliis plain, but substantial,
and not inelegant building, is occupied by Mr. Macdonald, of Glen-
aladale, whose ancestor was one of the first of the Highland chiefs
to declare bis adlierence to the cause of the Prince, The road here
winds round Locb Aylort,. and at lengtb passes the head of Loch
Shiel, where three or four narrow valleys open out into the cir-
cular and mountain-girt plain of Glenfinnan. In tkb lonely and
seclnded spot, on a piece of level sward, commanding the beauti-
ful vista of Loch Shiel, the standard of rcbcUion was nnf inrled on
the 19th of August, 1743. No place could be better ad apted for
the preliminary movements of an insurgent army. Eajrricaded on
all sides by huge hills, and at tbat peiiod tmapproached by roads,
GLenfinnan was completely concealed from the eye of the Govern-
ment I md along the narrow imd ahadowy defiles which issue from

L

122 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

it, messengers might be despatched to all parts of the Highlands,
and armed forces gathered together and marshalled, in the ut-
most silence and secrecy. The sound of footsteps, and the clatter-
iog of arms, would be equally unheard. A monument has been
raised on the spot, to commemorate the eventful scene of which
it was the witness. It consists of a plain round tower, over-
topped by a statue of the Prince, and surrounded by a low octa-
gonal wall. Though possessed of little architecturci beauty, the
wild and solitary place in which it stands gives it a striking effect ;
and it is with considerable difficulty that one drags himself away
from a scene hallowed by such stirring memories. An inscription,
breathing a hearty Jacobite spirit, appears on various parts of the
monument, in Gaelic, Latin, and English.*

After passing through Glenfinnan, you find yourself in the Loch-
iel country, the first characteristics of which are an extensive
but improvable morass, skirted by natural forests, of which birch

* I took the trouble, before leaving Glenfinnan, of copying the inscription,
and have been much surprised, since my return to the south, in discovering that
•ome very incorrect copies have found their way into pubUcations from whieh
the utmost exactitude in matters of this kind might be expected. The English
inscription is as follows : —

" On this spot, where
Prince Charles Edward Stuart

first planted his Standard,

on the 19th day of August, 1745,

when he made the noble and naJlant attempt

to recover a throne lost by his ancestors,

this column was erected by

Alexander Macdonald, Esq., of Olenaladale,

to commemorate the generous zeal,

the undaunted bravery, and the inviolable fidelity

of his forefathei-s, and the rest of those

who fought and bled in that
arduous and unfortunate enterprise."

In the copy which is given in Eullarton & Co.'s " Grazetteer of Scotland,"
the words " daring and romantic" are substituted for " noble and gallant," which
I have printed in italics in the above ; and the simple statement in the follow-
ing line, that the object of the Prince was to recover " a throne lost by his an-
cestors," is altered into " a throne lost by the imprudence of his ancestors." A
discreditable attempt has thus been made to obliterate the Jacobitical sentiment
embodied in the monument itself, as well as in the inscription, and to cast a
slur upon the cause which both were intended to commemorate. The respect-
able publishers of the valuable work referred to may be readily supposed to be
entirely free of blame in this matter. The misrepresentation is more likely to
have originated with some local scribe, of snobbish propensities, who feels
ashamed of the honest opinions of his forefathers.

LOCniEL*

193

is the predominatrng material. Tor many miles tliere k a total
absence of any signs of popuktion. In one of the glades of the
woods I spied a newly-built cottage, and iipou entering itj foimd
it inlmhit^d by the family of a Highland sheplicrd, who had re-
cently lost his employment. One of the adjacent sheep-farms had
fallen into the bands of a south-country grazier, who had a appointed
the Highland shepherds by men from his own district. Loeliiel
had allotted three or four a^cres of gronnd to this family, as a means
of support in their new eireunistances, but the roughness of the
gronnd must render cultivation Tcry difficult to a poor cottar with-
out means for some years to come. There was no appearance of
want, however, in the cottage ; and the mistress informed me that
her husband was assisting a neighbouring farmer to smear, for
which he was receiving day -wages. A mile or two farther on, the
road passes close along the edge of Loch Eil ; and here population
becomes more numerous, as is usually the case on the margin of
the Highland bays. There are here several groups of club-tcnants,
paying about £7 of rent per family, I found that turnips had been
grown on some of these small farms for the first time last season,
and the people expressed themselves fully satisfied with the result.

* But the most noticeable object on the road is the old mansion of

* Fassifem, long occupied by the ancestors of the present Sir Duncan
Cameron, but now giving its name to a huge sheep-walk, which
Jms swallowed up nearly one-half of the Lochiel estate. The shep-

* herds were busy smearing in the out-houses as I passed the place;
and from one of them I learned, incident aUy* that the stock of
Fassifem amounts to 20,OOtL Another sheep- walk, the mmie of
which I have not retained, is said to have a larger stock than Passi-
fcm ; and the two together embrace the whole of Glen Arkeg and ^
its adjoining valleys, many of which are very beautiful and fertile,
Tlie clearances in the country of the Camcrons have been coaiplete
and unsparing in their character. Not one of the old tacksmen
of the elan remain upon the estate- — the Chief himself is an absen-
tee ; and the only remains of the devastation which has overtaken
the old Celtic polit y in this once famous land of broadswords, may
be traced in the swann of croftora along the margins of the Locli
and the Caledonian Caiml.

A century ago the rental of Loeliiel probably did not exceed
£500 a-ycar, and yet the Chief of the day was able to carry a
body of 800 men into the rebellion of 1745. Matters are now
completely reversed. The Lochiel of the present day pockets an

124 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

annual rent of £6000 or £7000, but could not command the mili-
tary service of eighty men either for or against the cause of his
Sovereign. The old ballads of the district speak of " two hundred
swords from Loch Arkeg side" leaping from their scabbards at
the voice of Lochiel — a statement which implies that the beauti-
ful and spacious glen in which that sheet of water is found must
at one time have contained a population little short of 1000 souls.
With the exception of Achnacary, the family-mansion of Lochiel,
scarcely a dwelling-house has been left in the glen. The people
have long since disappeared from " Loch Arkeg side ;" and so great
is the solitude to which this oncebusy spot is consigned, that though
considered by many to equal, if not excel, the most picturesque of
our Scottish lakes, it is seldom visited, and abnost unknown.

The rents of the crofts on the canal side vary from £3 to £5 per
annum. The crofters generally keep two cows, fifteen sheep, and
a pony. The cultivated land formerly yielded as many potatoes
as maintained the families and the cattle during nine months of
the year. This last year, however, the produce of each croft would
scarcely average two bolls of meal, after feeding cattle and sup-
plying seed. The pressure of distress is, therefore, much felt among
the crofters ; and their difficulties are greatly increased by the ces-
sation of employment. The canal works, when going on, kept the
people all well employed, and for many years this was probably
one of the most prosperous districts in the Highlands. Even during
last spring, some thousands were spent by the commissioners; but
the canal is now folly completed, and nothing has started up to fill
up the vacuum thus created in the means of employment. Some
of the people spent £20 last year for subsistence to supplement
the blighted potato crops. Their money, however, is now done ;
and great numbers are daily making the most heart-rending appli-
cations for work to the canal overseers without success.

There has been a good deal of subdivision of the crofts in some
parts of the Lochiel estate. Two crofts have in many instances
been converted into three ; but this occurred principally in the time
of the former Lochiel. The present proprietor is enlarging rather
than subdividing, and his regulations against the increase of popu-
lation are of the most stringent and Malthusian character. Two
families are strictly prohibited from living upon one croft. If one
of a family marries, he must leave the croft ; and a case has even
been brought under my notice, in which the only son of a widow,
who is in joint possession of a croft with his mother, has been told

LOCHIEL.

125

that if lie marries lie will 1>b compelled to leave the estate. Severe
penalties are also threatened against tlie keeping of lodgers* The
^jahicky crofter who t^kes a friend under his roof^ without first ob-
' the eonsent of Loehicl, mnst pay for the first offenee a fine
■ £1 ; and for the aecond, shall he removed from the estate. It
does not even appear that the duties of hospitality are held saered
from the ban of this terrific ukase. There mnst be aoTiiething
extremely " rotten in the state of Denmark/* when such unnatural
reg^ations arc required to keep population within the limits of
aubsisteuce.

There is a considerable quantity of unieclainied land on the
crofts, which, '^ brought into cultivation, would tend materially to
mitigate the existing distress, Eut no encouragement is given
to reclaim. The crofters have no leases, and many of them are
too poor to subsist themselves and their families while employed
in the process of reclamation. On mentioning to a crofter the
difficulty which the E^iief Board had in laying out the public
money on knd, of which the tenants had no leases, he very inge*
niously suggested that this need be no difficulty, for if the land-
lord was unwiUing to give leases, he could easily come under an
' obligation to the Board to pay back a reasonable proportion of the
' increased rent drawn from the croft in eonsequence of the Board's
improvements. This repayment could, of coursCj be made as well
tmder one tenant as another, so that the landlord would retain liis
power of removal, and the Board at the same thne secure its ftmdvS
firom misappropriation. The idea had never occiured to nie, and
I readily accepted it as a novel and useful solution of a difiicultj
which has hitherto been one of the greatest a tumbling-blocks in
the path of the Relief Board.

CoiiJlieting opinions are entertained of LochieFs qualities as a
landlord. I have already said that he is an absentee ; but I should
mention that he Ls so more from considerations of health than of
pleasure. The mists of Locliaber are not congenial to his consti-
tution, which is said to be weak and debilitated. He bears a gene-
ral character of demeucy, kindness, and indulgence to the croft ei^j
but it is universally remarked that a great change has taken place
upon Mm of late, which dates its commencement from some time
about the passing of the Scotch Poor Law Amendment Act. One
part of bis policy during the late severe year does not give a very
exalted idea of his gencroua-heartedness. Last spring he very
considerately distributed from a boU to a boH and a-half of com

126 LETTERS FROM THE HI6HLANDS.

for seed to each of his crofters ; but before the June market at
Fort-William, and before the seed had well begun to sprout in the
ground, his grieve went round the crofts and bought up all the
young cattle, retaining the value of the seed-corn from the price.
This, it must be confessed, considering all the circumstances, was
rather sharp practice. But the great fault of Lochiel is, that he
is not an improver, not an employer of labour, nor an encourager
of other employers of labour, which is the sine qua non of good
landlordism in the Highlands. I visited the small farm of Torr
Castle, which lies between the Lochy and the canal, a mile or two
above the locks, ^ere are about fifteen acres of arable ground
on this farm, and as many more could be added to it with the
greatest ease. But Lochiel gives no encouragement. The te-
nant has a lease ; but the ordinary duration of a lease is insuffi-
cient to protect a farmer if he has to reclaim land from a state of
Biature, and erect the fences and buildings which the increased cul-
tivation renders necessary. There is a profusion of woods on the
Lochiel estate, and the proprietor might at least supply timber,
free of cost, to such of the tenants as were disposed to inclose their
fields, or put up out-houses. But even this boon is refused : the
farmers must pay for the materials as well as the labour of im-
provement ; and, as a necessary consequence, the spirit of enter-
prise is chilled, and the hand of industry falls powerless in despair.

LETTEE XXVI.

Estate of Inverlochy— Its Boundaries— Solitade of the Sheep Walk»— The Crofts
— Farm of Torlundy— Its Waste Conditioxi— Farm of Auchandaul— Successful
Improvements — ^The Gamekeeper and the Cottar — Population the Great Im-
prover— Entails and tiie Game-Laws— Leases of the Crofters —Injustice of the
Laws of the Estate—An Old Soldier— Lord Abinger a Site-Refuser.

Crossing Lochy Perry, you pass from the property of Lochiel
to the interesting estate of Liverlochy, belongmg to Lord Abinger.
This estate formed part of the extensive possessions of the Gordon
family ; but, upon the insolvency of the Marquis of Huntly, it was
purchased by the late Lord Abinger, a well-known English judge,
upon whose death it became the property of the present owner,
the heir of his title and estates. It is, without exception^ the finest

INTBllLOCHT,

127

subject for improvement I met with in tJie whole course of my in-
quiries in the HigMands ; and for this reason, as well as for some
I others wliich are stated elsewhere,* I was induced to give it a very
jninute iiivestigation,

Inverloclij is surrounded hy natural and weH-dcfincd honnda-
[ties. The Ben Nevis range of mountains skirt it on the south —
Ithc northern sides of the hills forming part of the estate. The
rivers Spcan and Lochy inclose it on the east and north ; and the
lliochy and the Nevis form its western and southern boundaries.
l!riie reader may trace out the property on a common map mth the
Igreatest distinctness, Two parallel lines of hiUy ground run through
Jihe estate from east to w^estj and, together with the Ben Nevis
mountains, form three separate straths, and three separate ranges
of hill-pasture. I propose to take the reader with me through each
of these natural divisions, so tlmt be may have a clear idea of the
Ifintire property— how it ia divided, what uses the various parts
are devoted to, and the condition, physically and socially, of the
people who reside aad labour upon iL 1 have no wish to reflect
unduly upon Lord Abinger. 1 do not imagine that there is any-
thing very peculiar in his case. The estate of Inverlochy is only
a graphic example of the management of landed properly througb-
out the Higldands generally j and Lord Abijiger's share of the com»
mon crime simply b, that he has kept liis property in the same bad
state in wliicb he got it ; imd as land usualy gets w^orse when left
to itseK, there is reason to believe that tins fine estate is quietly
falliDg, under his management, into a more w^aste condition thai
kiinder mij of his predecessors.

Entering the Ben Nevis side of the property from Fort-Wilbam,

Jthc lirst fann you come to is Claggabi, which stretches up Glen

IJJcvis, and is rented by a aheep-farmer, who devotes it exclusively

I pasture. Then you have the old farms of Dhouie and BnimfurCj

llotb of wliicb are occupied by Lord Abingerj and are annexed

I to bis Lordsldp's home-farm of Torlundy, which I villi notice by-

and-bye. These farms are rough and stony ; but several fertile

patches occur between the know e a and along the edge of the stream j

which, if cultivated, w^ould ail'ord good winter-feeding for sheep or

cattle. The only trace of population I could discover on these farms

was an old hut, with its roof half fallen in, and tenanted by no liv-

* See Appendii| No* IIL

128 LETTERS FROM THE HIOHLANDS.

ing creature save a dozen of very timid hens ! Some old woman —
the last of her clan, I fancied to myself — may possibly have died
here, or been smothered by the falling roof; and these are her
stock of fowls, still clinging with natural affection to the spot where
they had been reared and fed. A few blackcocks, a score or two
of Highland stirks, and these dozen hens, live at ease, without pay-
ing rent, on the produce of Dhonie and Drumfure. As you pro-
ceed up the strath, the prospect widens, and assumes a greener
and softer aspect. The sides of the Ben Nevis mountains descend
in broad, smooth, grassy declivities, some of which are elegantly
dotted with natural wood. The heights on the other side spread
out in wide marshy flats ; while the intermediate ground gradually
offers a more expansive and appropriate field for the spade and the
plough. First you have the sheep department of the farm of Auch-
andaul, a very extensive tract ; and next there is the large farm of
Leanachan, which, with the exception of a few fields in the neigh-
bourhood of the dwelling-house, is devoted exclusively to pasture.
The solitary and deserted appearance of these sheep-walks strikes
a stranger at once. No human being is seen as you stretch your
eye along the strath. The very sheep, at this season of the year,
hide themselves on the tops of the hiUs. No dikes, or fences, or
any other trace of labour, announce to you that man has been here.
No living voice, or hum of industry, is heard ; and as the listen-
ing ear catches the distant plash of the mountain torrent, or the
dreary rustle of the wind as it sweeps over the long grass, a feel-
ing is awakened akin to that experienced by eastern travellers when
standing amidst the solitude of some fallen Babylon, or some de-
serted Shinar, stricken by the curse of God. An old Highlandman,^
who has frequently topped Ben Nevis and his numerous satellites,
pointed out to me, without moving a foot, the spots where, in
his day, stood six hamlets, each containing ten or twelve families.
Scarcely a stone of the cottages are left ; and, except for the small
circular gardens, which are still preserved to the eye by the remains
of their feal enclosures, it would be impossible to discover the
s%htest trace of these homes of former generations. Further up
the strath, you have Carychoilly and Dalnabee, another sheep-walk,
occupied by Mr. Cameron, one of the most extensive graziers in
the north. It is said that this gentleman clips 40,000 sheep yearly.
The farm of Killichonat, which is still devoted to arable purposes,
and yields excellent crops, brings you to the Spean, or north-eastern
boundary of Lord Abinger's possessions.

IKT^RLOCHY*

The aoil along the banks of tlie Spean and the Lochy is, with
few exceptions, rough mid barren- It descends abruptly to the
water's edge in ledges of rock, or in irregular terraces of deep,
coarse moss. It seems as if itatuTe, in addition to the two noble
streams which maj be supposed to act the part of moats, had rsiised
a nigged rampart of moss, stones, and brawny heather, round the
Dortb-eastem and north-wcstcm boundaries of the estate^ as a pro-
tection to the fine alluvial soil which covers the interior straths.
Li olden times such a rampart would be of singular service in
warding oil the encroachments of preda-toiy clans. In the present
day it serves a somewhat d liferent purpose ; for it is here where
Lord Abinger disposes of !us redundaikt population. This outer
stripe of coarse mosaj ground is laid out in successive clusters of
small crofts. First you have the crofts of Unacban, twenty -five in
number, inarching with the shcep-liirm of Lcinmcbanj and stretch*
ing along the edge of the Spean to tlie to[> of the second hilly ridge,
widch I have described as running tli rough the estate. On the other
side of the hiU you find the crofts of Braehlatter, rather pictu-
resquely situated, and commanding a fine view of the entrance of
the Caledonian Cand to Loch LocSy, Directly below Braehlatter,
on the odgp of the river Lochy, there is another cluster hearing
the name of the parish^ and extending over a tract of more level
land than any of tlie other groups. But tliis advantage is, per-
haps, counterbalanced by the smidler size of the crofts. Erach-
latter and KiUnonivaig consist of thirteen crofts each, wliich are
occupied hy as many families. They were kid out in crofts about
forty years ago, under the proprietorship of the Duke of Gordon.
Previously they were occupied by one tacksman, and yielded a rent
of about £25 ; hut Lord Abinger draws four or five times that sum
from the present tenants. The scenery along the bank of the river is
full of interest. The Lochy itself, as it sweeps rapidly down its course,
is rather a majestic object ; and the line of sloops and steamers
wldch glide along the Caledonian Canal, on the opposite bank of
the river, revives the idea of commerce and population amid the
solitude of a wild and sequestered glen. The lofty hills of Lochiel,
green to their summits, and speckled with the com fields of an
army of crofters, contrast with the black mosses and dark heather
braes of luverlochy. After Kilmonivaig, you have the farm of
Camisky, partly arable and partly pastoral, but containing an enor-
mous quantity of waste land, the excellent qualities of which, and
the immediate vicinity of the river, hold out every possible induce-

150

LETTERS FROM THE mOHLASDS.

ment to improTe. Passing over the west end of the biJl, you eome
upon anotlier group of crofts, called Tomraacharncli, overlooking
the fanu of Torlimdy^ and exidently wrested by sheer labour from
iht dominion of the snrronnding barrenness. A little farther south
there is another small cluster of crofts, on a place called Dalavenve.
There may be about a dozen crofts in the two pkces, and these
complete the whole of this class of allotments on Lord Abinger's
estate.

This brings us back to the point whence we set out, namely^
the east end of the estate in the neighbourliood of rort-William;
but we have still the middle strath to glance at, which is the more
easOy done as the public road to Loch Laggan and Badenoch passes
directly through the midst of it.

In the immediate vicinity of I'ort -William there is a piece of
laud called the Black Park, which is let out in smaH allotments
to the villagers ; and another piece attached to the Ben Nevis dis-
tillery, liespecting these there is nothing^ particular to be no-
ticed. The tenants pay a good rent for them, and, I have no doubt,
receive considerable advantage from them hi return. One fact,
however, is worthy of being recorded. A short tunc ago, a gen-
tleman, then resiing in Port-WiLUam, applied to Lord Abmger
for a part of the moss in lease, for improvement and cultivation.
His Lordsldp did not tlirectly refuse a lease, but he offered one on
preposterous conditions. He would not extend the duration of
the lease beyond seven years, diuring which thne the tenant was
to pay an annual rent of £1 per acre. The applicant, of ootirse,
decHned the offer. The moss, accordingly, remained waste, and
the gentleman transferred his capital and Ms enterprise to another
part of the country. This is a specimen of the way in which im-
provement is scared away from the Highlands.

The next farm is Torlundy, occupied by Lord Abmger himself,
and consisting principally of a dreary tract of moss, which fills the
whole atrath from side to side, aiid stretches up the declivities of
the hills. A rich alluvial soil Ues at the depth of one, two, and
three feet from the surface. The mossy substance itself is quaU-
licd with soil ; and the acclivitous formation of the p-ound af ords
the utmost faculty for draining the stagnant water into a stream,
whicii nana along the lower edge of the moss. Yet with aU tlicse
advantages, so tempting to the agricultural capitalist, tliis immense
and beautiful tract of country Ucs in a state of what I Ti^ill caE
artificial sterility » With the exception of a few roods which have

A

ijjrEELOcnT- ISl

been newly trenched round Torlundy Hotwe, there is no appear-
ance of an attempt being made to relieve this line tract of soil of
its noxioiia covering of moss. It seems to have been entirely given
over to the breeding of game. For this purpose it is, no douht,
well adapted ; and, as the shootings arc annually let to sportsmen,
it may possihlyj as a gamc-prcsene, pay Lord Abbiger as well aa
he desires. His Lordship's interest may tlms be satistietlj but tbe
land was not made for the landlords alone, but for the sustenance
and employment of the people ; and tbe interests of the latter are
directly destroyed by the slate in which it has pleased Lord Abin-
ger to keep tliis line Lochubcr property* Torluntly niosy is a public
nuisanee. The cold vupours m hieh continually cxlialc from it ffdi
in mildew upon the neighbours^ com-tields, and blast in a single
night the hopes of a whole year. It artificially deteriorates a cli-
mate which is bad enough by nature. It robs man, moreover, of
his birthright — his right to toil and live. There m now no excuse
for leaving such a waste as Torlundy moss unimproved, for if the
proprietor is poor, the Government offers to supply the necessary
capital

Tbe natural fertility of the soil, and its facilities of improve-
ment, are well illustrated by one or two examples in the immedi-
ate neiglibourhood of Lord Abiuger*3 home-farm. Passing Tor-
lundy, you come to a fine fann ealled Anchandanl, tenanted by Mr.
M 'Donald, banker, Port -Willi suu. This farm was let out for cul-
tivation by the Marquis of Huntly, some years previous to tbe
sale of Ilia estates. On condition that the tenant should improve,
the Marquis gave a nineteen years* lease, and built a very supe-
rior stone fence round the arable part of the farm. Mr. M*Bo-
rnddj accordingly, coninienccd to draiiij burn, lime, mid cultivate
his moss. The operation has been completely successful. Tiner
com, turnips, and potato cropsj are nowhere to be seen than on
Auchandaui ; and such of them aa came under my notice had at-
tained the average ripeness observable at tbe same aeason of the
year in other parts of the country. Such has been the result of
capital and labour combined; but there arc one or two examples
of the cfTect of labour alone wbicli are not unworthy of notice.
Lord Abioger's shepherd Inu a smaE allotment in the heart of Um
moss ; and here also, by mere spade work, tbe russet hues of the
beather have given way to the green and yellow emblems of plenty.
Another small allotment is cultivated with great success, so far
aa good crops arc concerned, by a poor woman, whose husband m

J

182 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

a disabled cottar on Auchandaul. This family live in a wretched
heather hut on the roadside ; and directly opposite, on the hill,
stands the gamekeeper's cottage and offices, presenting a most
comfortable appearance, and provoking dangerous comparisons
with the poor cottar's hut. They seem to say to the passer-by,
upon the authority of Lord Abinger, that he who devotes himself
to the gratification of aristocratic pleasure will have a good house
to live in, and plenty to eat and wear ; but that the poor simple-
ton, who devotes his energies upon the altar of all-hallowing la-
bour, will be doomed to stretch his limbs in damp and falling ho-
vels, to subsist on the poorest fare, and die a hungered pauper.
Thus Lord Abinger not only keeps the soil in a state of barren-
ness while he lives, but the system he pursues is calculated to per-
petuate the evil by infusing a hatred of industry into the very na-
ture of the people. Happily, the soil itself is much kinder to the
sons of labour than its titled owners. Mrs. M'Diarmid's crops
are most exuberant. Her com and potatoes challenge comparison
with any on the farm of Auchandaul ; and she can boast a few rows
of beans which would be creditable to the best carse land in Scot-
land. But these cultivated portions of the moss are mere specks
compared with the thousands of acres which lie in a state of waste.
They merely show what can be done — ^what stuff the soil is made
of — and how easy it would be for the owner to spread fertility and
plenty over a poverty-stricken portion of the country. But all
these demonstrations are in vam. Lord Abinger has not reclaimed
a single acre ; nor does he give the smallest indication of an in-
tention to reclaim ; and this extraordinary policy is pursued at a
time when population is decaying, when thousands are torn yearly
from their native glens for sheer want of land to live upon, and
when a bad harvest or potato failure plunges the entire Highlands
into a state of famine.

A melancholy interest is excited by a few green spots scattered
here and there over the moss, and bearing undeniable traces of
having once been seats of population and industry. The old fur-
rows are still visible amid the fern; and a grey cairn of stones,
with an aged tree or a scraggy thorn near by, points out the homes
in which former generations lived and died. Some of these ve-
nerable plots still keep the heather and the fern at bay, and the
few sheep and cattle which have been sent adrift over the moss
are sure to be seen grazing on these spots, or clustered somewhere
near them — ^the very beasts thus doing all that their dumb natuies

INVERLOCHY. 133

enable them to teach lordly man the trae secret of fertility. Po-
pulation, after all, is the great improver. Wherever yon plant
men, there yon are sure to have a cultivated soil and a chastened
climate. The policy of extirpating the people pursued by the High-
land proprietors is literally a policy of barrenness and barbarism.

But the reader will naturally ask, what is to be done with the
Lord Abingers who infest and sterilise the Highlands ? The ques-
tion is not very easy to answer, but it is clear that it is one to
which a solution must very soon be given. Many would abolish
the law of entail, and that measure would certainly be attended
with the most cheering results. But it would not do all that is
necessary. It would but very indirectly touch such a case as this
Lochaber moss. The Marquis of Huntly, as I have stated, had
granted an improving lease of Auchandaul previous to the property
passing out of his hands. Auchandaul was clearly an experiment ;
and, had the moss remained in the Marquis's possession, there
would doubtless have been many more Auchandauls erected by this
time on Torlundy. But the Marquis's bankruptcy put a stop to
his improvements, and did to the moss what the abolition of entails
would do in the case of many other estates — ^it brought it into the
market. The sequel is known — ^it fell into the hands of a game-
preserving nobleman. How many more Lord Abingers are there
in England ? And what are we to hope from a measure which
will bring estates into the market, to be bought up by a crowd of
men who would gladkjr convert Scotland into moor and forest P
Luxuries always sell at a high price. A man who wants an estate
for hunting and shooting will be sure to outbid another who wishes
to purchase it for the investment and increase of capital. The
game laws, therefore, as well as the entail laws, lie at the root of
the eviL

I have thus gone over the whole of Lord Abinger's estate ; and
I may safely leave the reader to adopt his own opinion respecting
the manner in which the property is laid off, and the uses to which
it is applied. But this letter would be manifestly incomplete, did
I not give some more special information regarding the condition
of the crofters, and the manner in which they are dealt with by
their landlord.

Unachan, which is the most extensive and the most modem
group of crofts, is divided into twenty-five allotments, of about
five acres each. These allotments are occupied by twenty-three
heads of families, two of whom hold two crofts each. Each croft

M

m

LETTERS FHOM THE HIGIILAI^DS,

pays Q rent of £5 per aTmunij with the exception of five, whiet,
ou account of being all uiideT moss, or in a state of waste at tho
time of eiitiT, pay from £2 to £3 of aimual reut* It is calculated
that, when the crofters entered, there were about two acres in eadi
croft, with the exception already mentioned, iea<Iy for growing
crops — the remaining three acres being coarse bog. There is a
range; of hill pasture iittached to the allotnicnts, on which the crof-
ters' cows graae in common. The people entered on this ground
at Whitsunday, 1S35, under a nineteen years' lease, which, toge-
ther with the printed regiilationa of the estate, will l>e found in
Appendix INo. III., for the leisurely study of such as may be inte-
rested in the amenities of Higldand landlordism. It would be
iinpossible in one or half a dozen letters to expose the one-sided
and injurious character of these documents. I can only indicate
a few of tlieir beju-iiigs upon the condition of the crofters.

Tlie lease binds each of tlic crofters '^ to convert in a proper
and suffieient marmcr at least one half acre of the waste ground
and moss into arable lainl yeajly^ till the whole [of their respective
allotments] is taken in." A ca.reful inspection of the ground con-
vinces me that the great depth and unmanageable nature of the
moss renders the performance of this condition entirely impossible
to men of sucli limited means as the crofters, I have already said
that the crofts arc scattered along the worst and coarsest jmrts of
the estate. At Uiiaclian this is pre-eminently the case. The moss
is eight, ten, and twelve feet deep ; and this huge mass is filled
with the remains of heavy timber, which has onee grown on the
banks of the Spcan, and been washed by the floods m successive
tiers along the margin of the river. To bring in ground of this
nature w^oiUd rcrjuire a aeries of extensive operations, spread over
a large surface, and continued without intemdssion till fuUy ac-
complished. The abortive result of any effort which can be put
forth on such land by a few crofters labouring with spades, Cfich
on his o^TL little spot, isathout system, and at such iiTcgulEir inter-
vals as the necessities of their hand-to-mouth contHtion will per-
mit, may be easily imagmed. The produce of the crofts does not
maintain tlic iamilics of the crofters more than six months of the
year* To pay their rents, and procure subsistence, during the re-
maining part of the year, the crofters must hire themselves out at
day-labour. Were they to devote a fiftli part of the time to the
trencldng and draining of the moss wliich would be required to
bring it into an arable condition, their families must starve, they
would fall into arrears of rent, and certain ruin would overtake

J

INVEELOCHY.

tiiem. Tbey have been obliged^ therefore, to make tlie best of a
bad bargain. They have brought in all the superior and atiainable
parts of ttie waste ; and the efforts of this kind which have been
madej as well as the system of culture pursued, do great credit to
their industry and skill. Had Lord Ahingcr transferred Ids black-
cocks to the swamps of Unachan, and the crofters to the fine soil
of Torlnndy, the result would have been more creditable to his be-
nevolence and sagaeity.

But bad and unpromising as the crofts of XInachan natimdly
are, they have been rendered still more unproductive to the poor
occnpanta by the mles of the estate. Some of thcso form part of
the leases, and of course were submitted to by the crofters with
their eyes open ; but some have been introduced at the option of
the landlord, and in some instances in direct opposition to the
conditions of the leases. When the crofters entered upon Unachan,
there were no dwelling-houses, offices, or roads attached to the
crofts. They were rcquiicd to construct these for themselves ; and,
by way of encouraging them in thia good work, it was made a con-
dition of tlie leases that a crofter " should be entitled to meHora-
tions at Ms removal for such dwelling-house as he might erect,
provided the same is done aceording to a plan to be approved of
by the prf>prietor or his factor, such aQowaiice not to exceed the
sum of £10 sterling.*' Tsow, let the reader attend to this. A
dwelling-house, built aceording to the plan approved of by the pro-
prietor or factor of Inverlochy, would cost from £50 to £60. Yet,
the whole allowance for a house of this value, in the event of the
xemoval of the tenant^ is restricted by the leases to £10 1 Is it
any wonder that under such a system the Highlands should be
covered with those miserable bothies which are so offensive to the
eye of the stranger P I could only discover two houses in Una-
chan built with gables and chimneys, and according to the plan
of the estate ; but what reason have the poor men who erected
these to congratidatc themselves on the civilised appearance of
their premises ? Here they are, with only seven years of their
leases to run, at the end of which they may be ejected from their
property, and sent about their business with only one-fifth its value.
Their £G0 wodd have done a ^eat deal to iniprove their moss.
The houses or huts of the other crofters are built in the Ilighland
fashion ; but though they would cost upwards of £10^ the tenants
arc entitled to no compensation in the event of their removal. And
what renders the matter still more ludicrously one-sided, the crof-
ters arc boiand by their leases to keep the houses and offices^—

136 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

built at their own expense, and taken from tliem without compen-
sation — ^in a state of good repair, and to leave them in a state of
good repair, when they remove or are ejected from the grounds I

The hill attached to the crofts is covered with heath, and, not-
withstanding its extent, affords but a sorry bite to the cows. The
greater part of it, however, is very improvable ground ; and the
heather only requires to be burned to clothe it with the sweetest
pasture. Moor-burning, however, is strictly prohibited, lest da-
mage might be done to the game. The conditions of the leases
permit the heather to be burned during the lawful period; but Lord
Abinger oversteps the leases, and prevents all moor-burning except
by the gamekeeper. This is the law over all the groups, and the
result is most injurious to the domestic comfort of the crofters,
whose children literally are deprived of milk in order that the snipe»
and blackcocks may repose on a warm heather couch.

Crushed and oppressed in these and similar ways, the crofters,
it may well be supposed, have a hard lot to endure. Their fare
consists of meal, potatoes, milk, and occasionally herrings ; and
when any blight falls upon their crops, as was the case last year^
and will again, to some extent, be the case this year, they are re-
duced to starvation. Unachan is the only group which enjoys, or
rather suffers, under a lease. All the other crofters are tenants-
at-will ; but there is no special difference in their condition. While
the works of the Caledonian Canal were proceeding, convenient em-
ployment was afforded to the crofters of Kilmonivaig aud Brach-
latter. Labour is now more scarce. There are a few pensioners
in these hamlets ; and at Brachlatter there is an interesting old
soldier who told me that he had been servant to Brigadier-Grene-
ral Stuart, in the Peninsular war ; and when I told him that my
forefathers were buried in the churchyard which contained the
dust of his master, the old .man's eyes filled with tears, and grasp-
ing me by the hand, he told me a long story how he had carried
the General on his back when wounded at Terrol, shared with him
the contents of his flask, and remained by his side amid a raking
fire from the enemy, till rescued by the approach of the main body
of the army.

Perhaps one other fact is necessary to complete this sketch of
Lord Abinger and his property. His Lordship is a site-refuser, in
a parish containing nearly 3,000 of a population, hundreds of square
miles in extent, and containing but two places of worship— the
parish church and a Boman Catholic chapel.

OLEK SPEAK. 137

LETTEE XXVII.

Glen Spean— Primitive Character of the Hamlets— Farming in Common— Po-
verty of the Cluh-Tenants— Defective Cultivation— Run-rig— Its injurious
Effects — Attachment of the People to the Hamlets— Symptoms of Improve-
ment—The Boad-Tax— Mr. Walker and the Mackintosh.

Crossing Spean Bridge, we are introduced into a more beauti-
ful and better-cultivated tract of country than the mossy waste of
Lord Abinger. This is Glen Spean, the river of that name flowing
through it. The road takes nearly the same course as the Spean, and
commands some very beautiful landscapes, in which the dark, deep
pools of the stream, its roaring fall over steep rocks, or its quiet,
unmurmuring flow, never fail to awaken admiration. Upon a more
narrow inspection of the glen, however, it is found to be much less
highly cultivated than it reaUy seems, from the number and beauty
of the woods which clothe the course of the river, and extend along
the declivities of the hills. The foliage of the trees covers many
wastes, and imparts a richer aspect even to the cultivated fields.
There are several substantial farm-houses, indicating a high degree
of comfort on the part of the occupants ; but these are few in num-
ber compared with the groups of huts, black and wretched as High-
land huts usually are, which appear in various quarters of the glen,
each surrounded with their alternate ridges of com and potato
ground.

Glen Spean and its lateral valleys are the property of Mackintosh
of Mackintosh, and Walker of Lochtreig — ^the former a descen-
dant of the old hereditary chiefs of the Mackintoshes, and the latter
a successful and gentlemanly Saxon from the borders. The Spean
forms the boundaries of the two properties, which extend from
Spean Bridge on the west to Loch Laggan on the east. Mr.
Walker owns the southern bank of the river, and Mr. Mackintosh
the northern. Both estates are laid out partly in large single farms,
devoted exclusively to the pasture of sheep, and partly in High-
land townships, each of which contains a tract of arable land and
a range of hill pasture. The latter, in their mode of culture, their
habits of life, and the principles of their social union, are true relics
of the olden time, and may now be regarded as peculiar to the
Highlands. The people, or dub-tenants, as they are called, live to-

m2

138 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

getter in small hamlets, contaming ten or a dozen families each,
who occupy the soil in common, and rear and divide its produce
on principles which seek to harmonise individual rights with a
community of interest.

I visited seven of these hamlets, bearing the names, respectively,
of Bohantin (of which there are two), Baharnie, Achaluoroch, Mer-
ligar, Munessie, and Achnacoichan. To describe each of these se-
parately would be a wearisome repetition. I will therefore confine
myself to a few facts indicative of their general condition. Each
township or hamlet is literally a joint-stock company of farmers, •
the members of which are bound, jointly and severally, to the land-
lord for payment of the rent. The arable part of the farm, rented
by one of these clubs, or companies, is divided into ridges of equal
size ; and these, again, are divided equally among the members ;
for, as the people argue, in order to secure a fair division of the
soil, it is necessary to cut it up into small sections, and set aside
a section to each family consecutively, till the whole are exhausted.
A family wiU thus have as many as sbc or seven ridges spread over
all parts of the farm, and each of them surrounded by similar stripes
belonging to his co-tenants. The hiU or pasturage of the farm is
held strictly in common. Every member of the hamlet contributes
an equal number of the sheep and cattle necessary to stock the
hiU ; a shepherd is employed at the common expense to tend the
flocks ; and one of the number, in whom the little community has
confidence, is appointed annually to sell the stock requiring to be
taken to market, the proceeds being applied to the payment of the
rent, and the overplus, if any, divided equally among the co-tenants.
The rent of the townships vary from £150 to £350 per annum, be-
ing at the rate of from £7 to £20 for each tenant. The stock of
sheep range from 600 to 2000 on some farms ; and each family
has seldom less than three milch cows. If any of the tenants
proves indolent, wasteful, and unable to pay his share of the rent,
his neighbours are secured against loss by his stock ; and should
he turn out incorrigible, they can expel hm from the club: but in
the event of any one being disabled, by accident or sickness, so that
he cannot cultivate his part of the farm, his co-tenants join together
and do it for him gratuitously. The claims of widows in this re-
spect particularly are respected, it being a fixed rule that no widow-
be put out of the club, but that all lend her a helping hand till her
own family are able to take the duty off their shoulders. There
is thus in these simple communities an active and benevolent co-

GLEN BPEAIT.

139

operation, wMcli saves mdividual members from tLe caJ amities
Tfliicli befall poor families in more arlilieial states of society.

Tlic condition of tlic club-tenants in Glen Spean, as elsewhere,
b muck more comfortable than that of the crofters. Nevertbeless,
I found much poverty prevailing among tbenij and especially where
the shares have been much subdivided. The Bohantitis, for ex-
amples on the properly of the MiMikintosb^ were origiiiaily let to a
company of sixteen families, but they ure now occupied by double
that nu!nbcr. It is not to he supposed that the people can be well
off in these circnmstanccs. The produce of the farm is insniBeient
to maintain the families upon it, and the attention of the tenants
is diBtracted from tlie cultivation of the soil in a too often fmit-
iess search for daj4abonrj to eke out their iuadcqnEitc resoiirees.
Driiing sheep to the south is a common employment for this class
of men, and it takes tbena away from their farms at the time wbeu
their crops are arriving at maturity, and "wlien their undivided
attention is most necessary to secure the fruits of their labour from
the ravages of a lickle and boisterous cliraEite. Many of the elub-
tenauts on Mr. Walker's property are also very poor. The people
in Muuessie and Achnacoichan are obhgcd to sell their fat ewes- —
& part of the stock which, m some of the other townships, is con-
sumed by the tenants themselves — the fact being, that the poverty
of these two hamlets is so great a^ not to admit of the luxury of
butcher-meat. So inadequate, also, is the com and potato crops,
that each family lias usually to purchase three or four bolls of meal
every year. So true is it, that everpvbere in the Higldands there
is the same deplorable scarcity of land among the common people.
The soil^ — the great means of Kfe — is monopolised by the graziers.
Two sheep'Walks in Glen Roy swallow up the ground formeriy
possessed by nine townships such as I am describing. Hence the
subdivision and crowding of families on such of the clnVfarms as
are still permitted to exist.

But yet it mnst be admitted that these club-farms in Glen
Spean ai'e far from having been brought to their utmost degree
of productiveness. There is much that is faidty and injurious in
the system pursued by the tenants. There are no enclosures be*
tween the arable and grazuig departments of the farms. Con-
stant herding of the cattle in the summer season is therefore in-
dispensable J and as the sheep must be brought down from the
hills in winter, sueh crops only are grown as can be gathered-in
during harvest. There is, consequently, no tui-nip or gjeen crops

140 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

cultivated except potatoes ; and as these are eaten by the families,
there is a very scanty provision for both cows and sheep in win-
ter. The worst or half-ripened part of the com is thrown to the
cows to prevent them being entirely starved ; and though com is
the principal crop, I was informed by an old tenant in Bohantin
that he does not bring home more than a boll and a half of meal
from the mill annually. There is also a scarcity of manure, which,
where there are so many cows, can only be the result of indolence
or mismanagement. But the greatest evil of all exists in the in-
jurious system of run-ri^, to which the people cling with the most
suicidal tenacity. A march, from eighteen inches to two feet in
breadth, separates one ridge from another, and the waste of land
occasioned by so many marches is out of all proportion with the
breadth of soil that is cultivated. A great deal of labour is also
lost in going back and forward from one ridge to another ; and it
is impossible that crops, spread over so many detached sections,
can be so well attended to as when concentrated in one spot. Yet
these are small injuries compared with the obstacles which run-rig
raises in the way of agricultural improvement. A joint-tenant in
one of these townsh^s, however enterprising, and however strongly
convinced of the necessity of new modes of culture, finds it im-
possible to manage his lot in his own way, until he carries his
sluggish neighbours along with him. He cannot drain unless they
all drain. If they choose to grow certain kinds of crops, and to
pursue a certain system of rotation, his ridges are so inseparably
mixed up with theirs, that he is compelled to follow their example,
however self-ruinous he may feel it to be. Suppose, for instance,
that he grows turnips or mangold-wurtzel for his cows on the ridges
from which old habit teaches his fellow-tenants to take a second
or a third crop of oats, what is the result P They cut down their
com in September, and his green crop is left exposed to the com-
mon destmction of the cows, which, for want of anything better,
must be brought down to graze on the stubble. The experiment,
therefore, is never made, and the minds of his co-tenants remain
impervious to the idea of improvement, because the golden ad-
vantages to be reaped from it are never exhibited.

That run-rig secures an equal division of good and bad soil
among the co-tenants is an absurd imagination, wholly inconsist-
ent with fact. The tenants at Bahainnie occupy soil entirely dif-
ferent in its qualities from the soil divided among the tenants at
Achaluoroch and Merligar ; yet these people are on the same farm.

GLEN fiPEAN.

and pay an equal stare of tlie rent. Even on such a fann as the
BohautiiiSj where the arable ground is all in the same plajcCj tlie
rig system fails to secure the uice adjustment which it is supposed
to do. There are sixteen teuauts in each of the two hamlets, and
each ridge may be eighteen or twenty feet wide. What possible
chance is there that the sixteenth rig will he as good as the first P

By dividing the arable gronnd ijito separate aiid distinct lots,
an equally jnst partition of the sod would he effected jls by cut-
ting it np into ridges. And if a tenant should get a worse lot
than his neighbours, tlrere it is before you. The degree of its in-
feriority luay be estimated, and dedncted with all desirable exact-
ness, in poundsj sldllings, and pence, fi'ora the tenant's share of
the rent.

There appears to be an idea in the nainds of the people that the
abolition of rmi-rig involves the destruction of their hanilets, and
idtimately their own clearance from the aoO. The practice of
some landlords has given too reasonable gromids for this suspicion-
To abolish r?m-ri/^ they have in some instances deemed it neces-
soiy to extirpate the people. But I cannot perceive in these cases
any essential conncjdon between the disease and the remedy. The
object of aU true refonn is to conserve what is good, to destroy
only what is bad, in old systems ; and in tlie Highland hamlet there
is much to approve and admire. The fervid tenacity with which
the Higldaud people cling to these old seats of population is worthy
of sympathy and respect. They are the dwelling-pkces of their la-
thers and graudfathers — the homes of their childhood — ^the scenes
of their loves and their joys. They are hallow ed by the wanu emo-
tions of the past, and arc not inconsistent with the wants and exi-
gencies of the present. They are admhably adapted to dissipate
the loneliness of ruriil life^ and to preserve the enjoyments of so-
ciety and intercourse andd the dreary sohtudes of a monntahi land*
They are generally placed in pieturestjue situations. The green
sward stretches to their thresholds ; and from the windows of Ibe
cots the old patriarchs of the hamlet may look out upon the merry
gambols of the youngsters, and the joyous labours of the hay-
makers. In short, a Uttle more taste and cleanliness is all that
is requisite to render these little commimities the finest combina-
tion of rural beauty and simplicity to be found in any country in
the world. By tiH means, then, let them bo preserved. There is
little danger of any of the crofts being so far removed from the
hamletg as to give any serious inconvenience to the cultivators ;

*

142

LETTEBS FEOM THE HIQirLAin)8.

and the union of the eoitagea wHl still be a symbol of that com-
muaiity of interest with which tlieir inmates have agreed to occupj
and stock tlie hills. For with the pastoral department of their
industry no fanlt can be found. It is only by some such system
of co-opemtion that a poor hut niimerons peasantry con take pos»
session of immense tracts of oionutmn pasture ; and there is no-
thing to hinder a stock of sheep belonging to a community of small
farmers from being ivs well managed and as productive as a stock
Tf hich is the property of one large monopolising graaier.

A creditable spirit of improvement in manifest among the people
in some of these handets. At Bahanmie the soil is wet and mossy.
The tenants, however, drained it at their own expense some years
ago, mid are now reelahniiig considerable tracts of moss* Many
of the people on tliis farm, particularly the young men, are also
convinced of the disadvantages of run'Ttg ; but the fears and pre-
judices of a few, aided by the depressing influence of a landlord
who takes no interest in his people, and refuses to lay out any
expense, prevent the introduction of any better and more enlight-
ened mode. The Mackintosh is a hard, and, what is even worse,
he is an indifferent proprietor. Last Martinmas the Baliainnio
people asked ponnission to retain £50 of the rent due, as a loan,
till Whitsunday, for the ]mrpose of buying meal for their famdiea
as a substitute for the potatoes destroyed by the blight 5 but thia
lepregentative of an ancient line peremptorily refused the reason-
able requcstj allegmg as his excuse that he had to do so much for
the poor tliat he could give no indulgence to his tenants. He
might as weH have said that he liad liis grocer's bill to pay, for
he ia as much bound to contribute his share to the maijitenance
of the poor as to discharge any other civil debt. The obligations
of justice do not supersede, though they ought to precede, the
duties of generosity.

The road-tax presses very unjustly on the Highland townslnps.

Each family is assessed as il' they were the sole occupants of the

farm. Thus sixteen families in one of the Glen Spean township^^M
pay £2 8s. of road-money, and at the same time arc obhged to maktt^^^B
and repair the roads to their hamlets. It is such imposts tlial breed '
E^ibecea riots in Wales j but Donald bears fleecing as dmiibly 03
his own sheep.

^f r. Walker is attempting to abolish run-rig^ and to introduce
a plan of separate allotments. He proposes to diminish the hold-
ings of some of the tenants, and has on i\m account raised an op-

i

QLEU SPEAN.

U^

position to Ms sdiemCj which it maj tiequirc time and patience to
overcome. He seems to be a kind-hearted gentlemai}, who wishes
to improve the conditioE of the people without resorting to cniel
and repulsive methods* He resides for two or tliree months every
jear at Lochtreig, and is characterised hj his miifoTm liberahtj to
the poorj hoth on his own and neighbouring jiroperties. Mackin-
tosh ia said not to have visited Glen Speaji during the last fifteen
yearSj though a pretty constant resident in a different quarter of
the same comity ; and his factor is never seen except on rent-
day. Several oak plantations on the estate are literidly going to
wreck for want of thiiniing and cleaningj and the most promising
facilities of improvement are neglected. The population is con-
Bcqnently poor, nnemployedj and dispirited.

LETTEB IXVIII.

Want of Activity in EeapSnj? the Crops — WetufSH of the Clinmte— ThoHIph-
landa best fittjecl forOreen Crops— The Bmall Native Farmers theppopRr Ageots
of lid pro vemcnt— Steam Coiauiunlcatioii between hack Eil and the Mersey—
Loan and Fat Sheep— GrieTamjes of Fort-William— A Political McUamorpbuBls
— Self-com mem oration .

A WET and variable climate has failed to hnpress upon the High-
land farmers the necessity of using tlie utmost activity and expe-
dition in cutting and gathering-iii their crops. Com is allowed
to stand long after it is ripe ; and when reaping k commenced, it
proceeds with very slow and languid step^. If the people hasked
under the steady wamitli of an ItaMan sky, they could not he more
dilatoiy in their han-est operations* This singular apatliy is ex-
cused in some instances by a positive want of people. The po-
pulatioiij tliinned by the policy of the laird Sj becomes still more
sparse in liarv'est, vrhcn great numbers flock to the Lowlands, at-
tracted by the higher remuneration which is tliere given for their
labour. The result is, that hands cannot be got by the farmers
in Higliland district Sj and they are obliged to cut down the grain
in small parcels by their own hired sen-ant s, till the return of the
reapers from the south enables them to secure the remainder of
their weather-beaten crops. The loss occasioned by this system

4

4

144 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

is immense. The com is scattered, mildewed, and destroyed bj
the wind, rain, and frost, with which these elevated regions are
nsuallj visited towards the middle and end of September. When
the oats are taken to the mill, the produce in meal, of course, is
meagre in the extreme ; and then nothing is heard but exclama-
tions against the badness of the soil and climate, which would be
much more just if directed against the cultivators of the land
themselves.

The same complaints are made in spring. Sowing is retarded
by the wetness of the soil, for which the climate is also blamed.
But if the fields were well drained, and the cold, wet mosses re*
claimed, not only would the climate itself become more favourable*
but the land would be ready much earlier, even in the worst sea*
sons, for the reception of the seed. It is impossible to deny the
wetness of the cliraate. This is an obvious and an unfortunate
fact, which must always militate more or less against the fertility
of the Highland soil. But this disadvantage should only induce
man to exert himself the more, to arm himself at all points, and
to put in operation those artificial resources by which he can adapt
himself to the vicissitudes, and sometimes even conquer the great-
est difficulties, of nature. The draining of the soil, the planting
of trees, and the increase of population, would tend infallibly to
modify and improve the climate ; and when by these means it had
been brought to its highest point of perfection, the industry of
the country might assume the form for which its natural qualities
render it best adapted. My own opinion is, that these high grounds
would be found better fitted for green than for white crops. The
present system of cultivation is marked by two opposite extremes.
You have either large sheep-farms, in which the fertile straths and
barren mountains are thrown into one general and indiscriminate
range of pasture, or you have small crofts, which are covered with
an abnost unintermitting succession of white crop. !Fill the bot*
tom of the valleys with a greater profusion of green crops, with
which to fatten the sheep and cattle reared on the mountains, and
you will have a system more consonant with nature, and much
more likely to develop the resources of the Highlands than either
of these extremes.

If I am at all right in this opinion, it is to the Highland people
— such people as occupy the townships described in the last letter
— that we must look for a thorough and profitable occupation of
the Highlands. The large graziers are generally men who have

FORT-WILLIAM. 145

arable farms in the south, to which they convey their flocks to be
fattened ; or, if not south country fanners, their frequent absence
at markets in all parts of the kingdom render them incapable of
giving that close attention to their farms which the cultivation of
crops renders indispensable. They are, consequently, opposed to
the culture of the Highland soil, and are always loud in their ex-
clamations against the impracticability of the climate. It is diffe-
rent with the small native farmers. They have been accustomed
from their infancy to combine a pastoral with an agricultural life.
The necessities of their families demand the cultivation of every
arable acre of the soil ; and all their hopes and interests are cen-
tered in the complete development of the capabilities of the High-
lands. Let them be more perfectly instructed in the art of agri-
culture, teach them how to fatten their own sheep and cattle, open
up communication between their secluded valleys and the great
seats of population, and I venture to predict that a tide of pros-
perity will flow over the Highlands, which is altogether unattain-
able through the agency of any other class of men.

Fort-William offers a splendid outlet for stock fattened in Glen
Spean and its neighbouring valleys ; and it is not unworthy of no-
tice, that a steamer has been advertised this last season to sail at
regular intervals from Loch Eil to the Mersey. The Finn Mac-
Coul, which has plied for some years between Galloway and Lan-
cashire, is the vessel which has the honour of opeuing this new
communication between the Highlands and the manufacturing dis-
tricts of England. I am unable to give an account of any more
than her first trip. Her cargo consisted principally of seventy
scores of sheep, which had been purchased in Glen Spean by Mr.
Rodger, an extensive farmer in Wigtonshire. This fine flock would
be fed for some time on turnips, on Mr. Rodger's farm of Pen-
kill, near Garliestown, and, when fattened, would be conveyed to
the Liverpool market. The Finn MacCoul did not succeed, there-
fore, in getting a cargo direct to Liverpool on her first trip ; and
any one who takes the trouble to travel through the extensive tract
of country between Fort-WiUiam and Loch Laggan will have little
difficulty in finding the real secret of the failure. Thousands of
acres are lying in moss, or in a state of sheer waste, or in almost
equally unprofitable pasture, which, if cultivated, would grow as
luxuriant crops of turnips as any other part of Scotland. Were
these wastes turned to proper account, a large proportion of the
sheep reared on the mountains might be fattened in the valleys

N

140

LETTEllS FllOM TIIE HIGH1ANJ>3,

immediately adjficcnt, Qiid as a necessary con sequence, tlic nig:h-
laiid fanners would receive an fkldition to tltcir present rct.Lims
equivalent to the difFercnce between tlie price of le^ui, iuid that of
fat sheep. The increase of money which would llms he hrought
into the Highlands, would be divided anioup; labourerSj farmers,
and proprietors; and a nation of coiniuracrs woidd also partake
larj^cly in the coninion benefit, for the supply of mutton and other
farm produce offered for their use would be greatly augmented.
But the Higldaiid landlords prevent all this oirenlation of money
and intorehango of advantages^ To please theii" fauciesj the land
must be in a state of waste, the sheep must grow Icun ou grass
and heather, and at last be sold at lean prices to some south country
farmer, wlio pockels as nmch for two or three months of tuniip-
fecding as the iUgldmid fanner gets for the keep and trouble of
as many years ! Is there any wonder that under such a slate of
things there should be little circulation of money hi the Ilighhuids,
and that tiie people should be poor antl famine-stricken ?

This ruinous system has a fattd inlluence on the prosperity of
the Higldmid towns^ mid no place sullbrs more acutely from it than
Fort- William* Sit mil cd in the centre of a vast sliecp and catUo
country, and commandingj by mcaus of the Caledonian Canal and
the weatorn ocean, dhrect and rapid commmneation with the most
secluded valleys on the one htuid, and the most crowded seats of
population and mainifaetnrcs on jlie other, this viJltige might soon
become a vasst depot for the exchange and tnuisndssion of the (iro-
duee ijcculiai* to both, Bnt m there is bttle stock prepared for
market in the neighbourhood, there is no demand for vesseb to con-
vey it, nor for merchants and agents to circct tlie exchange, Tlie
flocks of lean sheep reared on the suiTonnding hills are sent to the
south in droves, and ihe most retired routes are preferred. No
labourers are eraployed in reclaiming the adjoining tracts of waste
lajid. There is, consequently, no expenditnre of wages, and no de-
matul tor goods of local manufaetm'c. Every channel of i>rospe-
rity is cut oli", and, instead of increasing diiily in wealth and po|>u-
latioii, Ff>rt- William pines in the middle of an artificial wildeniess*
It is not even aUowcd room enougli for Ihe sniaU trade which it
possesses. The village is the property of Sir Duncan Cameron, of
Passifenu Tliis old gentleman went to bed one night a Whig, and
rose next morning a Tory ; and because the fcaars in the vilkge
could not undergo an eqntdly rapid metamorphosis, he has subjected
them to petty annoyance ever since. No new feus can he obtained

J

FORT-WILLIAM. 147

for love or money. When a person wishes to build, he must ex-
pend as much in purchasing old houses as would nearly suffice to
put up the new erection ; and, of course, as old houses are thus
demolished, the lower classes of the population are crammed into
murkier and more crowded dens. From this suffocating process
there is no escape ; for while Sir Duncan presses the unfortunate
villagers in the centre, the Government and Lochiel pepper them
on each flank. The former refuses to yield an inch of its ground,
though the necessity of a fort does not seem in these days very
urgent ; and the latter cannot give a foot of his, because it is fet-
tered under a deed of entail.* Both have a certam excuse, but
Sir Duncan has literally none ; and with an admirable conscious-
ness that he wiU leave behind him no affectionate memorial in the
hearts of the people, this provident old chieftain is employed, like
Absalom of old, in erecting to himself a monument of stone.

LET TEE XXIX.

Ardgower—Model Croftg— Colonel M'Lean— His Policy— A Sick Cottar— The
Folly of Niggardly Relief— Strontlan— -Diminution of the Crofts— The Lead
Mines— Extensive Woods— Pirn Factory at Salen— Herring Fishing— Great
Amount of Reclaimable Soil.

Loch Linnhe and Loch Eil separate the estate of Ardgower,
possessed by Colonel M'Lean, from the properties described in the

* The act, 10th of George m., c. 57, permits heirs of entail to grant build-
ing-leases for ninety-nine years ; but restrictions are attached to this provision
which render it of little practical avail. It is not allowed to grant more than
five acres to any one person, and the grant must contain a condition that the
lease shall be null and void if one dwelling-house at least, not under the value
of £10 sterling, be not built within the space of ten years from the date of the
lease for each one half acre of ground comprehended in the lease, and that the
said houses shall be kept in good, tenantable, and sufficient repair. There is
an insuperable objection, moreover, in Scotland to leasehold property, inas-
much as money cannot be borrowed upon it. There are few who will lay out
money in building houses which are to revert to the proprietor at a limited
period, even though that should be ninety-nine years. The injuries inflicted
upon the soil hy entails are well-known : their evil effects upon towns are equally
oppressive and galling.

148 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

three last letters. My intention was to land if possible in MuD,
before returning from my tour. I therefore crossed Loch Linnhe
at Coran ferry, intending to pass through Ardgower and Ardna-
murchan to Salen, where I might take a boat to Tobermory.

Ardgower House stands at a little distance from the ferry, and,
close by the road which passes round the outside of the grounds,
attention is attracted to a row of cottages, with allotments of land
attached to each, which, in point of neatness, comfort, and every
mark of successful industry, infinitely transcend anything of the
same kind which I had seen in other parts of the Highlands. The
cottages consist of two apartments — or, as they are called in Scot-
land, "a but and a ben;" they are lighted by glass windows ; the
smoke is carried up through stone chimneys in the usual civilised
fashion ; the outsides are very cleanly whitewashed ; and little gar-
dens, filled with vegetables, and neatly fenced, are laid out in front;
while the cowhouses, dungheaps, and stackyards, are placed be-
hind the cottages. The crofts are partly two acres, and partly four
acres in extent. The occupiers of the first class keep one cow ;
those of the latter class generally keep two ; but when the " old
standards," as the tenants of long standing are called, die out, their
successors are obliged to keep only one. It is a common fault
among the Highland crofters to keep more cows than they can
feed, than which nothing can be more unprofitable, as one good
well-fed cow is better for all family purposes than half-a-dozen
starved ones. By reducing the number, the Colonel expects to
improve the feeding and the quality of his crofters' cows ; and this
is an intention which has been already to some extent realised.
The cattle, and, in fact, everything else about the model-crofts to
which I allude, are in a very superior condition, and give an un-
answerable reply to those who are always exclaiming against the
inveterate indolence and incorrigible obstinacy of the Highlanders.
Colonel M*Lean has improved the condition of his people, and the
same means which have been successful at Ardgower will be suc-
cessful everywhere. The Colonel is a disciplinarian. He carries
the spirit of a soldier into the peaceful enterprises of a country
life. The size, the plan, and the construction of his cottages are
announced to his crofters with the energy and precision with which
a military chief would direct an attack upon the enemy, or the for-
mation of a line of intrenchments. Nor is he guilty of the Egyptian
tyranny of exacting bricks without straw. He does not, like some
of his neighbours, require his poor tenants to do things which he

ARDGOWER. 149

knows to be impossible. While he commands, he supplies the means
of obedience. He provides the materials of improvement; and the
people, awed by his orders, and inspirited by his example, fall
readily into plans which they perceive to be no less beneficial to
themselves than pleasing and satisfactory to their landlord. There
is also another cause to which the improved aspect of things at
Ardgower may be traced. The Colonel gives work to the crofters
at fifteen-pence a-day as often as they choose to go for it. There
is thus no excuse for idleness. Every man, in the intervals al-
lowed him from his croft, gets employment within a few minutes'
walk of his own door, and at wages which, however small they may
seem in Lowland estimation, are of the highest consequence to a
Highland labourer. The Ardgower crofters have always the means
of earning their bread. They are always above the reach of de-
spair — that nurse of indolence and of beggary. Apply the same pre-
scription over the Highlands generally, and the gratifying results
which are exhibited here on a small scale will become universal.

In one respect we cannot approve of Colonel McLean's policy.
He has rooted out several families from his estate for no osten-
sible reason except their adherence to the Free Church. A little
compulsion in matters affecting the cultivation of the soil and the
construction of cottages may not only be forgiven, but may even
be highly laudable, on the part of a Highland landlord ; but when
he presumes to domineer over the conscience, he obtrudes into a
domain which he has no right to enter, and where he is powerful
only to oppress or pollute. Colonel M'Lean cannot make conver-
sions by such a course. The poor men who left the homes where
they had long lived so happily under him and his predecessor,
rather than abandon their religious convictions, prove how power-
less he is over the conscience. Of these he has made martyrs, and
of some who remain upon his estate he may possibly have made
hypocrites ; but this is the utmost extent of his achievements in
the character of a religious persecutor.

I did not find the crofters in other parts of the Ardgower estate
in so good a condition as in the vicinity of the mansion-house.
There is little to distinguish the huts and subsistence of the cot-
tars and crofters on the neighbouring farm of Sligachan from those
of the same classes in other parts of the Highlands. The cottars
get from Is. to Is. 2d. for a day's work. One of these poor men,
whom I visited, has been for a long time in bad health, and is still
able to do but very little work. He has a wife and four young

n2

]50 LETTERS FROM THE mOHLAKDS.

children, and the only aid he receives is 21Ibs. of meal and 4d. in
money weekly from the relief committee. He is in the prime of
life, and, under the influence of proper restoratives, I have no doubt
he would speedily recover. But his only food being oatmeal, he
languishes from day to day without deriving any material acces-
sion of strength. In this case we have a striking example of the
folly of a niggardly system of relief. This man, being sick and dis-
abled, is entitled to an adequate allowance from the parish. But
it does not appear that the parish board does anytliing for him.
It is the " relief committee" from which he says he gets the meal,
and which I take to be the committee in connection with the Cen-
tral Relief Board. This committee cannot be blamed for giving
too little relief; for, as the man has a legal claim upon the parish
for necessary sustentation, they were not entitled to have given
him anything. The parochial board is the real culprit. By its
neglect or its greed, this poor man is kept pining in a disabled
state much longer than would be necessary for his recovery under
an adequate and suitable provision, and may possibly sink alto-
gether, in which case his family will become permanent burdens.
And thus, in a thousand instances, the cheese-paring economy of
the poor's-boards defeats itself, and entails upon the unlucky rate-
payers a much heavier burden than would have fallen on them un-
der a more generous system.

After passing through several miles of a country of singularly wild
and savage character, I arrived at length at Loch Sunart,on the shore
of which is Strontian, the seat of Sir James Eiddell. The Strontian
district of Ardnamui'chan contains a population of 940, consisting
chiefly of the families of small crofters, whose huts and allotments
are crowded along the side of a steep and barren hill. The people
are extremely poor, and the digging and manuring of their crofts
must be a task of almost superhuman drudgery. The bottom of the
strath, of which the hill occupied by the crofters forms one of the
sides, has a soil of considerable depth and fertility. A stream flows
through the midst of it, and on the opposite side of it stands the
house of Drumintorran, afine farm, pasturing 5000sheep. The stream
was formerly the march between this farm and the land occupied by
the crofters, who consequently enjoyed the advantage of the good
level soil along the bank of the stream. Some time ago, however,
an excambion took place between Sir James and the farmer of
Drumintorran, by which the latter was put in possession of both
sides of the river, and the crofters accordingly were pressed up

STRONTIAX. 151

the side of the hill. Everywhere the invariable practice of late
years has beeu to diminish the breadth of soil in possession of the
people ; but, if the Highlands are to be saved from the most de-
plorable evils, this policy must now be exactly reversed. The lead
mines of Strontian have been the means of concentrating a greater
population on this spot than could otherwise have existed. But
they form at the best a very precarious source of employment. At
the time of my visit forty or fifty men were employed in them ; but
the manager had given out that he would shortly require about 200.
He complains, however, that the Highlanders are bad workers, and
threatens to bring in a colony of Irish ! There are about 300 acres
of moss in the neighbourhood of the crofts that might be reclaimed;
and along the Loch side I observed considerable plots of waste,
which bore marks of having been formerly cultivated. The last
are chiefly included in the farm of Drumintorran ; but, to the cre-
dit of the tenant, I must observe that he is actuated by no such
deadly hostility to cultivation as the sheep-farmers generally in the
north. He grows turnips extensively, and is proposing to turn his
attention to the fattening of bullocks.

The factor on tliis estate is an active and intelligent man; and
I was glad to learn that he had vnritten to Mr. Baird, the secre-
tary of the Glasgow Board, recommending a measure which I have
frequently insisted upon in the course of these letters — namely,
that the people set to work by the Board be paid in money instead
of meal. This gentleman also recommends that the proprietors
should pay one-third of the outlay upon public works undertaken
by the Board.

The extensive woods on the estate of Ardnamurchan afford a
considerable amount of employment to the people. All along the
side of Loch Sunart, and round the skirts of the parish generally,
the sides of the hills are clothed with a profusion of birch, oak,
and other natural trees. Wood-cutting is never at an end ; for,
when the foresters have concluded their work in one place, it is
time to begin somewhere else. To promote the consumption of
birch, which is the most plentiful description of timber, a pirn
manufactory has been established at Salen, which works up about
1,400 tons of wood yearly. The price paid to the proprietor is
7s. 6d. per ton, laid down at the niill-door. The pirns are cut by
means of machinery; but, in addition to a few men, there are twenty-
six boys employed in the factory, the greater part of whom are des-

152 LETTERS FROM THE fflGHLANDS.

titutes from Glasgow, who are fed and clothed in return for their
labour. It is said that 75,000 pirns arc made daily.

The herring-fishing is pretty good this season in Loch Moidart.
The men will clear about £5 each ; but some have bought nets this
year, which will swallow up the whole of their earnings. There
is a great want of boats and nets ; and as the young women are
idle, it would be very advantageous, both to them and the people
in general, if some suitable description of industry, such as the
spinning of hemp and the manufacture of fishing-nets, was Intro*
duced and encouraged among them.

During the distress consequent upon the loss of last year's po-
tatoes, employment was given to the people in reclaiming waste
land, by means of a loan obtained by Sir James Riddell under the
Drainage Act. About sixty or seventy hands were engaged in
trenching and draining on the club-farm of Acharacle ; and a num«
ber were also employed in the same way at the Kirkton. The rate
of wages was from Is. to Is. 6d. per day. Sir James proposes to
resume similar operations during the coming season ; and, from all
I can observe or learn, there is a great deal of scope for the profit-
able outlay of capital upon the soil. That the reader may liave
more than my testimony upon this point, I request his attention
to the statements of an authentic and impartial authority. In the
New Statistical Account there is an able and elaborate descrip-
tion of Ardnamurchan, and under the head of "Moss Hats" the
following information is given : —

" At the west end of Lochshiel, and in close neighbourhood, there are three
extensive flats of this description. The Moss of Kinkaw, extending from the
west end of that lake to the sea shore, and along the eastern hank of the river
Shiel, is, according to an old survey of Sir Alexander Murray, of Stanhope,
fiilly seven square miles in area. Another, the moss of Achaneilein, vrith a mean
breadth apparently of about three-fourths of a mile, stretches along the south
side of Lochsliiel for upwards of five miles from near the eastern boundary of
the first. The greater part of both is a perfect quagmire, or quaking moss of
unknown depth, through which progress can only be made by leaping from one
tuft of stunted heather and coarse grass to another ; but many hundred acres of
both, especially along the margin of the lake and the sea-shore, are highly im-
I)rovable ; the moss, only two or three feet deep, reposing upon a bed of sand.
Right opposite to the Moss of Achaneilein, on the north or Moidart side of
Lochshiel, is situated the Moss of Langal, a plain of 679 acres, all capable, at
a moderate expense, of being converted into highly-productive arable soil. The
moss rarely exceeds three or four feet in depth ; the substratum is sand, which,
when brought to the surface in trenching, soon decomposes the peat. With
the help of a marly shell sand, found in considerable quantities in the bed of
the river Shiel, at the western end of this moss, and some sea-ware, good crops

ARDNAMURCHAN. 153

of potatoes have been raised, although the ground was not hroke up until the
previous winter. On the hill-slopea to the eastward, there are 400 acres of the
same description, equally susceptible of improvement."

The fine arable fields on the farm of Drumintorran -wfre re-
claimed from mosses similar to the above, some of whicb were as
much as nine feet in depth. They were drained, trenched, and
limed, at an expense of £13 5 s. per English acre ; and upon be-
ing planted with potatoes for the first crop, yielded twenty returns.
In connexion with the above on " Moss Elats," read the following
lines on the " Sands of Kintra" : —

" West of the great moss flat of Kintra, situated between the sea and Loch-
shiel, and bounding the flat in that direction, extends the beach or sands of
Kintra. This is an expanse not less than two miles square, nearly circular in
form, over which the sea flows only at high water, and to no great depth, con-
sisting of fine light-coloured sand, the debris of primitive rocks, mixed with large
proportions of shell-sand, decomposed land and marine plants, some clay, and
doubtlessly a great quantity of animal matter derived from the mussels, cockles,
and other shell-fish with which it abounds. The sea being admitted by a narrow
inlet, seems very capable of exclusion by an embankment ; the streams fi-om
inland are equally susceptible of being collected into a canal for conveyance of
materials to and fi-om the very margin of the great moss. The substance of the
moss and the sands affording the best manure for each other, seem placed by
nature in juxtaposition for mutual improvement, and present an inviting field
for the investiture of great capital."

When these mosses and beaches have been reclaimed, and are
covered with luxuriant crops, as I confidently expect them one day
to be, posterity will be amazed at the ignorance and folly of the
generation wHch allowed such splendid resources to lie waste,
while the population was increasing yearly in numbers and in des-
titution.

LETTEE XXX.

Salen— A Storm— Highland Mode of Foiling Cloth— Elements of a New Arcadia
— Tobermory— The Poor in their own Houses— Ejectment of Cottars — Ac-
cumulation of Misery in Towns and Villages— Massacre of the Innocents.

It was late at night when I arrived at Salen, a small scattered
hamlet, situated at the head of one of the creeks of Loch Sunart.
I found lodging in a little public-house, and had the mortifica-

154

LETTEES FROM THE HIGHLAJmS.

tion of leandng from the landlord, that the packet whicli sails
weekly between Salen and Tobermory had left tlie creek that
forenooa. Mj only pkii was to pass down tlje side of the LocK
next morning to a place called Laggan, where I would find a boat
and rowers to take rne acrass to MuU, Comforting myself with
tliis assurance^ T went to rest, but long before day-bredCj my sliim-
hers were disturbed by a contimions roar, like the tattle of a rail-
way train, and having its head-qnarters somewhere about the
chinmey-top. Bay -light revealed a singularly wild and tempes-
tuous scene. The wind blew np the creek with terrific violence,
driving the torrents of rain before it like sheets of smokc^ and
throwing the waters of the Loch into frightful commotion. To
leave the house seemed for that day to be impossible^ and so I
resigned myself, in not the best humour, to the penanee of con-
finement in a room some eight feet by sm, in one of the bleakest
and most solitary spots it is possible to conceive.

One single incident 'alone occnrred to break the monotony of that
dreary day, and as it throws some light upon the customs and in-
dustry of the peox>lc, I wiU give my readers the benefit of it. While
I was pacing up and down my room, a wild ditty, sung by two or
tlnree voices at the other end of a long passEJge, broke upon my
ear. It reminded me of the chorus sometimes sung by siiilors
when lifting their anchor, and the opening and shutting of the
door of the apartment from which it proceeded, had the efl'bct of
modulating the soundj as if it had been wafted by the wind acrc»as
the bosom of the sea. For a while I stood wondering what it
could be^ till at length the mistress of the house entered my
room, and haring mentioned the matter, I was kindly invited
to satisfy my curiosity by paying a visit to the kitchen. Glad of
an opportunity of extending my ac([naintaiiceship, I proceeded
along the passage and found myself iutrodnced to a novel and mot-
ley scene. The apartment was characterised by all the smoke
and disorder of a HiglJand kitchen. An old woman, of most f/wtri*
archal appearance, rested upon a bed ; the remainder of the company
were young people of both sexes, seated on stools, chests, and bun-
dles of sticks, round the sides of the apartment, while the centre of
the floor was occupied by a f^roup of females employed in fidling
cloth, and singing Gaelic airs to their work. The whole scene
was worthy of tlic pencil of a Hogarth, but the most substantial
part of it was tlic process of fulling, which was certainly new to
me, A roll of thick blanketing was laid down in the middle of

SALEN. 155

the floor upon a frame of wicker-work. Two young women seated
themselves on each side of ifc, facing each other, and at such a
distance as to allow their feet to rest upon the cloth. Another
female stood at the end, for the purpose of turning the roll, and
keeping it in a proper state of moisture. When everything was
ready, the leader of the band started her song, in which aU the
others joined, beating time with their feet upon the cloth, and
growing in fervour as they became heated with the exercise. When
wearied with this double labour of the voice and the feet, they
rose from their seats, and a new band assumed the task, till the
elderly matron announced that the cloth was sufficiently fulled.
The wild shrill airs that were sung, coupled with the general aspect of
the place, gave a truly savage character to the scene, and reminded
me of some of CatHn's descriptions of the customs of the Ameri-
can Indians. The old woman informed me that such was exactly
the way in which cloth was fulled in her young days, and proba-
bly at no very distant period, the practice might be common over
the whole of the rural districts of Scotland. It forms, no doubt, a
good fireside amusement ; the young people seemed very fond of
it : but it appeared to me to be incompatible with the comfort and
cleanliness which should reign in a kitchen, and undoubtedly it is
a slow and laborious process compared with the fulling-mills. The
toil expended by the Highland women in this fashion, from which
their sisters in the South are relieved by machinery, would do a
great deal to put their houses in order, of which they stand much
in need.

Next morning dawned in splendour. Loch Sunart, as if ex-
hausted by the turmoil of the previous day, lay cahn and motion-
less, mirroring in its glassy bosom the blue sky and the over-
hanging rocks and trees. For an instant a thin vapoury cloud
would pass between the sun and the earth, and fall in light dewy
showers, like the momentary blush which steals over a maiden's
cheek and vanishes in tears. My road lay through a forest of
natural wood, the openings of which afforded sweet glimpses of the
Loch; and upon entering the more fertile glades, I was frequently
surprised to find myself in the presence of a group of cottages,
with plots of com ground, enclosed from the wood by small wicker
fences. Here might be seen the shepherd's hook ; here also was
the forest shade, the gurgling stream, and the woolly flock. I
fancied to myself that if Arcadian bHss could be realised on earth,
it might be here. The Highlands offer the most splendid attractions

156 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

to that class of improvers who delight in developing the poetry
and romance of rural life. The external formation of the country
affords the best possible opportunities for embellishment and effect;
the cottages might be placed in the most beautiful and fantastic
situations ; the imagination of th^ people themselves is poetical,
and would readily strike in with any scheme of improvement which
was poetical in its tendencies. If the work of Highland regene-
ration be ever taken up with vigour and earnestness, the Highlands,
without hyperbole, may become the most enchanting country, and
the Highlanders the finest peasantry in the world.

On arriving at the ferry, I found that the boatmen had gone
to the sheep-smearing at Glenbeg, some mile or two further down
the Loch. To secure their services I should have sent them no-
tice the previous night. I pushed on to Glenbeg, where I was at
length supplied with a boat and three stout rowers, and after two
hours' sailing was landed safely at Tobermory, the capital of MulL
Having much less time to spend in Mull than I had intended,
and hearing that the families of cottars, ejected from the interior
of the island, were taking up their abode almost daily in the vil-
lage, I resolved to visit as many of the poor in their own houses
as possible, as the best means of acquiring correct information ;
and in this duty I had the good fortune to be accompanied by a
friend who well knew the condition of the people.

The first house we visited was occupied by a tailor and his family.
His wife and four young children were sitting round the hearth.
The poor woman told me that she had had to borrow a little meal
in the morning for the children, and a halfpenny roll was all that
her husband had eaten that day. The man himself at length came
in. He was very emaciated in appearance, and so exhausted with
hunger and despair that it was with difficulty he could articulate
his words. He confirmed his wife's tale of want, and told us that
he had just been down to his grocer, who refused to give him any
provisions on credit, though he owed him nothing. He had seve-
ral small debts due to him, but could not get payment on account
of the poverty into which his customers have been thrown by the
potato failure. Though this family were evidently suffering great
privations, the house had some appearance of comfort, and there
were many articles of furniture in it — ^two timepieces, for example
— which, in a large town, would be deemed inconsistent with com-
plaints of personal distress. But there are no pawnbrokers in vil-
lages like Tobermory ; fomiture and clothing are not convertible*

TOBEIIMOBT. 157

iulT) breftd ; aud f he verj circimiatauccg wliicli else wL ere might
have tiirowTi some suspicion iipon the poor maii*s statements
formed the strongest proof of his pitiable condition. Here was a
tradesman of the more respect ahk class, reduced suddenly to a
state of starvation, unable to obtain present, or payment for past
work.

The next house we entered was a miserable den, with no aper-
ture for the admifJ-siori of light except the door, and so full of
smoke that a caudle lighted when we T;\Tnt h\ would scarcely huni.
The inmate, an old woman, iiifoniicd us that she had received
5 lbs, of meal weekly from the relief committee^ but this supply
had been stopped live weeks before. She bad been refused pa-
rochial relief on the gronjid that she had an able-bodied son; but
this son, as the old woman told us, has a family himself, lives at
a great distance from Tohemiory, and ui the present difficidtics
of the eouiitry may probably need relief himself. Tlie inspector
and parocliial board of Tobermory must surely have known that
the poor-law does not admit relief to be denied on any groimds
whatever to a person who is actually destitute of the means of
life. If they considered this poor \votnan*s sou able to supj>ort
her, the law gave them ami>le recourse against hbn; and it was their
duty to liave given lier a sufficient aliment, and prosecuted the sou
for reimbursement. But they throw the onus of coro[ielling rela-
tives u|K)n the poor themselves, who have none to instruct or be-
friend them ; and thus the law is evaded by the very parties ap-
jK>inted to administer it.

I next visited an old bednd woman, seventy years of age, who
had been blind for uineteen years. She bad lived for forty years in
the parish of Killlnichcn, was married, and had a family, but her
husband and chiltlren are ail dead. She received no parochial relief
till tlie last two years. Her allowance the first year was 25s.,
which has been raised to £!•. She bved with a niece, wlio is a
widow, with two young cliildren, and Ima nothuig but lier oiMi in-
dostry to support her. This niece was ejected from the farm of
TiroraOj on the estate of Lochbidc* la^st summer. She put up a
small tent outside, in which she and her children caught measles,
and her neighbomrs then took pity upon her, and gave Iter refuge.
Wien she recoveretl, she came in to Tobermory, and rented a
room, for which she pays 30s. In the meantime the old blind wo
man was put into the end of the house where the cow was kepi,
with no one to tend her, and the rain pouring down through the

o

158 LETTERS FROM THE q^GHLANDS.

roof. The factor had always promised to make provision for her;
but, when the niece saw that nothing was doing, she brought her
to her house at Tobermory. She had been there a month, and no
aliment had been sent. The niece supposes that she must go all the
way to Tiroran for it, a distance of thirty-six or thirty-eight miles ;
but she can scarcely leave the old woman, who can do nothing
whatever for herself. The factor pretended that the neighbours
were opposed to the niece being allowed to stop on the farm ; but
she showed me a certificate, signed by the whole of the tenants,
giving her an excellent character, and testifying that her husband
had held lands, and that she herself was an occupier for four years
after his death. Latterly she supported herself by growing pota-
toes upon land given her by her neighbours, and by providing nets
to a boat's crew, for the use of which she obtained a half-share of
the fish caught. But all her old means of ]i\ing have been over-
turned by her ejection ; and with the world to begin anew, two
children to feed, and this old aunt to look after, it is easy to con-
ceive what a severe struggle she must have for existence.

In the same parish, the families of four cottars had been re-
cently ejected from the farm of Ardvergnish, and two of these had
taken refuge in Tobermory. I went to see them. They had
taken two empty rooms in the upper flat of a back house. In
one of the families there were ten children, several of whom were
in the room when I entered. The mother, a woman of very re-
spectable appearance, was making thin porridge for their supper ;
they had got a similar meal in the morning, and this was their
whole diet. The children were very ragged, almost naked, and
on this account they could not go to the Gaelic School, though
admission had been offered them free of charge. In the other
family there were a wife and two young children. The rooms
were very bare of furniture, containing only a few things which
they had carried with them over the mountains. The little infant
in the second family was sleeping on the floor. The woman said
that her husband had been working some time in Glasgow, that
he came home last summer ill with small-pox, and had scarcely
recovered when this new disaster was prepared for him. The
farm on which these families lived as cottars was let at Whitsun-
day, soon after which time they were ejected, and their cottages
pulled to the ground. Tor six weeks they lived in a tent during the
day, but as many as could be accommodated were provided with
beds by the neighbours at night. The cold of winter, however.

TOBERMORY. 159

at length drove them out : one family had gone to Greenock, ano-
ther was living with relatives, and two, as we have seen, sought
shelter in Tobermory. Both of the men, at the time of my visit,
were absent at the herring fishing. As soon as they had seen
their families safely housed, they trudged away back to Kilfini-
chen, to make the most of the fishing season, which had been so
rudely and cruelly interrupted by their ejectment.

The results of these evictions, in a general point of view, are
injurious in the extreme. They accumulate poverty and destitu-
tion in heaps. Instead of the poor being spread over their re-
spective parishes, they are thrown together in villages, where
there is no property, no agency, no resources adequate to cope
with their necessities, and where, upon any unusual pressure,
there is nothing but the most appalling and unmanageable desti-
tution. The population of Tobermory has increased, in a short
time, from a few families to 1,400 souls ; and this increase has
probably resulted more from the influx of ejected paupers and cot-
tars from the outlying parts of the island than from the whole-
some influences of prosperity.

The effects upon the poor victims themselves are very destruc-
tive. Could we trace the history of the wretched families who
are thus mercilessly thrown out upon a strange world, I feel con-
vinced that, in the majority of cases, it would be found that they
had only escaped the cniel mercies of man to fall under the re-
lentless stroke of pestilence and death. A family, ejected from
this same parish in JVfoy last, went to Glasgow. There were seven
or eight children. The father, the mother, and the eldest child
have all died, leaving six or seven of the youngest and tenderest
without a head to guide, or an arm to support. Another family,
who went lately to Greenock, has lost two of its young members.
But why trace more minutely the pamful ravages of death ? Any
one who witnessed the groups of wretched creatures who crowded
into our large towns during last summer and autumn — who knows
the want and privation which there awaited them — ^who saw hun-
dreds of families lying night after night on the cold damp grass
of Glasgow Green, or amid the still more pestilential vapours of
the wynds and lanes, and who listened to the barking coughs of
the infants, as if their little bosoms were about to rend, can re-
quire no statistics to satisfy their minds of the fearful destruction
of human life occasioned by the ejectment of the peasantry from
the parishes in which they were bom and had lived, and the pro-

160 LETTERS PROM THE HIGHLANDS.

perty of which should have been made responsible for their sus-
tenance in the day of famine. This country was last year the
scene of a Massacre of the Lmocents, which has had no equal
since the days of Herod the Infanticide.

The population of Mull, at the last census, was 10,064. The
annual rental, as valued in 1843, is £17,576 16s. M. The total
number of poor persons relieved under the poor-law, in the year
ending 1st July, 1847, was 365, or a little more than 3 J per cent,
of the whole population. Tbe total sum expended on the relief
and management of the poor in the same year was £724 5s. 5d.,
or about four per cent, of the annual valued rental. In both re-
spects the proportion is less than the average proportion over the
country at large. The average proportion of poor persons relieved,
in the year ending 1st July, 1847, over the whole of Scotland,
was upwards of 4 J per cent, of the population ; while the total
sum expended on relief and management was fully 5 i per cent,
of the annual rental.

LETTEE XXXI.

Fishing Facilities of Mull and Sky e— Potato-Planting and Herring-FlBhing —
Their Encouragement of Idle Habits— Their Failure — Large Cipital neces-
<^arv to Successful Fishing— Indolence of the Monied Classes in the High-
lands.

The shores of Mull and Skye are adapted by nature for fish-
ing. Innumerable salt-water lochs flow into the very interior of
the islands, and cast out their branches in all directions. I am
not aware that the coast of either has ever been accurately mea-
sured ; but if a line were taken round all the turnings of the lochs
and arms of the sea, a prodigious circumference would be obtained,
of which no conception could be formed from the superficial area
of the islands. The consequence is, that nearly the whole poptda-
tion are living in the immediate neighbourhood of the coast. The
lochs afford not only secure anchorage for vessels, but also safe and
convenient fishing-ground in stormy weather, when deep-sea fish-
ing would be impracticable. And when the loch fishing is over,
and the weather calm, a few hours' sailing wiU carry the boats out

MULL AND SKYE. 161

into the open sea, where there are excellent fishing-banks. There
is thus scope for constant and daily exertion, and as all kinds of
fish are plentiful, there is no doubt that exertion would be richly
rewarded. With so many advantages, it is certainly matter of
wonder that the people, since they have been debarred from mak-
ing a livelihood from the soil, should have derived so little good
from the treasures of their seas. Fishing has in few instances been
pursued as an occupation. It has been merely regarded as an oc-
casional and partial resource, by which they might add a little va-
riety to their miserable fare, and a few shillings to their scanty
incomes. With no higher view of fishing than this, it was natural
that they should adopt the branch which gave them the best re-
turn with most ease. They have therefore confined their attention to
herring-fishing in the lochs. The want of capital toprocureboats and
tackle fitted for deep-sea fishing, and the want of a market for their
fish, without which capital could not be created, might also operate
at first in contenting them with two or three months of herring-
fishing at their doors ; and, the practice once begun, the brief and
irregular application which it requires, and the valuable return
which it occasionally yields, reminding one of the precarious gains
of a speculator or a gambler, have tended powerfully to confirm,
if not to create, those habits of indolence which now weigh like a
night-mare upon the springs of prosperity.

An ancient Highlandman was content, when setting out upon
a journey or a campaign, with a small bag of oatmeal. A modem
Highlandman considers himself well-off upon a diet of herring and
potatoes. Let any one consider for a moment the little exertion
with which a family could once be provided with an abundant sup-
ply of these articles of food, and he will cease to wonder at the in-
dolence of the present Highland population. Potato-planting com-
mences in March, and is continued till May ; the people carrying
the sea-ware from the shore, spreading it on the land, and putting
in the seed as they go along. The seed is reserved from the pre-
vious year's crop. The labour of a man and his wife for two months
will plant a quantity of potatoes sufficient, with the ordinary re-
turns, to subsist a family of six for a year. Cleaning the crop
while it is growing, and lifting it when it is ripe, will scarcely oc-
cupy other two months ; so that, by four months of easy labour, a
Highland labourer will provide his family with the main part of
their subsistence for a twelvemonth. The herring-season lasts about
three months; but it is only a small part of tjiis time that the people

2

162 LETTERS FROM THE HIOHLAKDS.

are actually engaged in fishing. The fish are sure to make their
appearance during the three months, but nobody can tell when they
will come, or how long they will stay. Their movements are un-
certain ; and this uncertainty is communicated to the habits of the
people, who loll about the shore in anxious yet idle expectancy.
Hearing that the herrings are in the loch, and seeing the evening
favourable, the cottar at last launches his boat, and, taking two
or three comrades with him, drops his net, and returns next morn-
ing to the shore with £5 or £6 worth of herrings — ^more than the
whole party could have earned at common labour for a month. A.
night or two more of similar success, and as many herrings are
secured as supply the family, and pay the rent of the potato-ground;
and thus, by five or six months* work, the diet of potatoes and
herrings is procured, and everything made safe for the twelvemonth.
Such is the system of life among the labouring population in the
distressed districts of the Highlands. The direct effect of it is to
encourage idleness, to give the people a false estimate of the^value
of labour, to make them contented with the most miserable fare,
and to indispose them to steady and constant efforts of industry.
Yet this system has been going on for half-a-century ; and what
wonder is it that in such a period habits of indolence should have
been formed ?

It is rather remarkable that herring-fishing and potato-planting,
which I believe to have exercised so injurious an influence upon
Highland character and habits, should have both begun to mani-
fest symptoms of failure at the same time. That the herring-fish-
ing has diminished in productiveness to a great extent during the
last ten years, is a fact to which universal testimony is given on
the west coast. I have heard it in all places, and from all classes
of individuals ; and the same truth has found its way into authen-
tic public records. The writer of the notice of the parish of Strath,
in the New Statistical Account, states, that so great is the fall-
ing-off, " that where sixty or seventy vessels could formerly be
loaded in a few weeks, one could not now be loaded in the course
of a whole season." The writer of the notice of Portree " deeply
regrets" the same fact, and remarks that " there is reason to fear
that the herring-fishing will altogether disappear on the coast of
this parish." It would be easy to multiply testimonies to the same
effect with respect to Mull ; but if any additional evidence is re-
quired, we have it in the miserable results of the present season,
when in many places the quantity of fish caught will scarcely re-

MULL AND SKYE. 163

place the wear and tear of materials. It seems as if Providence
had determined to destroy the baneful system on which the popu-
lation of the Highlands has so long grown poor and wretched. The
old plan of herring-fishing is as ill adapted to develop the resources
of the sea as the sheep-walks and potato-crofts are to develop the
capabilities of the land ; and the failure of both at the same pe-
riod will give a fearful acceleration to the crisis which must even-
tuate in a new system. Successful fishings can only be established
on the basis of ample capital. Some propose that the Relief Board
should supply the poorest of the people with boats and fishing-
gear ; but aU measures of this kind are fruitless attempts to build
upon a bad foundation. What guarantee have you that your ma-
terials will be used — that they will not lie useless, and rot ? The
class of people you would wish to benefit are not intelligent or
trained enough to conduct a business requiring so much hardihood
and perseverance as sea-fishing. They require masters — masters
to secure to them a certain remuneration, to direct their operations,
and to keep them steadily and constantly at work. An individual,
or company of individuals, with sufficient capital, could adapt them-
selves to every circumstance, and extract wealth from the very dif-
ficulties which are found to prostrate the efforts of the poor cot-
tars. When herrings left one loch, they could follow them with
their boats and fishermen to another ; and when loch-fishing failed
they could take to the open sea. In a bad herring-season the white-
fishing would make up the loss. In purchasing boats, nets, salt,
and barrels, and in curing and packing, and carrying their produce
expeditiously to market— in every branch and department of the
business — ^they would have advantages which people without ca-
pital cannot pretend to, and might raise the fisheries to a pitch of
prosperity and profit which they never have attained, or ever can
attain, under the present system. There are some capitals in Mull
and Skye large enough to make a beginning ; and if the first step
were taken there it would receive sympathy and encouragement
elsewhere. But, as I have often remarked, the indolence of the
monied classes in the Highlands is a worse obstacle to improve-
ment than the indolence of the poor. The same evil taint infects
society from its top to its base, being the more fatal and inexcu-
sable the higher it is found in the social scale. There are sheep-
walks in the Highlands occupying capitals not short of £18,000
or £20,000. A man with a capital of £20,000 might put an im-
mense amount of industry in motion ; and were he to devote him-

164 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

self to undertakings requiring intelligence, enterprise, and great
administrative talents, there can be little doubt that he would rise
to distinction and affluence. £20,000, lent out at the moderate
interest of 5 per cent., would even yield an annual income of £1000,
and entail no further trouble upon the owner than signing a quar-
terly or half-yearly receipt ; and yet I question much if the profits
of a sheep-farm, in which the same capital is invested, much ex-
ceeds £1000 per annum. But because a sheep-farm entails little
trouble, and yields a little more interest than the bank, it forms
a very* eligible refuge for the capitalist who has more wealth than
enterprise, and more avarice than ambition. A sheep-farmer —
with power, if he chose, to command an army of workmen — loung-
ing idly at home, while his flocks roam over extensive wastes un-
der the care of a few shepherds, is in every respect a worse pic-
ture of indolence than the poor, half-starved cottar, sitting over
the fire, mumping potatoes, and looking wistfully out at the loch
till its waves are so good as to bring a shoal of herrings to his door.

The same storm which delayed me a day at Salen, detained the
" Tartar" steamer the same period in completing her weekly trip
to Portree. This unexpected respite enabled me to take a run
into the interior of Mull. The island appears to be one vast moor,
relieved occasionally by green spots along the margins of lochs,
and in sunny and sheltered situations. Judging, however, from
the successful improvements which have been effected by the To-
bermory people upon the moor adjacent to the village, I would
presume that a large proportion of the moorish parts of the island
are reclaimable at a moderate expense.

Upon returning to Tobermory, I found the " Tartar" steaming
in the bay. I hurried on board, looked farewell for a time to the
Highland hills, and after a night voyage round the Mull of Can-
tire, was not displeased to find myself, on the afternoon of the fol-
lowing day, treadmg the firm pavement of Greenock quay.

CONCLUSION. 165

LETTEE XXXII.

Sources of Highland Want— Waste of Land« of Manure, of Capital, of Labour, of
Time— Remedies — A Liberal and Effectual Poor-Law— A Law for the Unem-
ployed— Abolition of Entails — Greater and Better M^ans of Education.

I PROPOSE to devote this concluding letter to a brief review of
the sources of Highland destitution, and the remedies necessary
to place the Highland people in a state of permanent prosperity.
These points have been constantly touched upon throughout the
whole course of my inquiries ; but it will form a suitable finale,
to gather up the leading conclusions, and arrange them together
by themselves, so that they may stand prominently forth as the
moral of my narrative.

There is a proverb in which we have wrapped up, as in a nut-
shell, both the cause aud the remedy of Highland misery — " No
Waste, no Want." In the Highlands there is waste, and, as a
necessary consequence, there is want. It will be found that every
abuse pointed out in the preceding letters resolves itself into waste
of some one or other of the bounties of Providence ; and that the
things most wasted in the Highlands are the very elements out of
which the wealth, comfort, and prosperity of communities are
created. Let us specify the more striking of these sources of want.

I. Waste of Land. — Land is wasted in a variety of ways. 1. It
is wasted by the system of sheep-walks. Large tracts of country,
twenty or thirty miles in length, are thrown into one farm ; all
fences over this vast space are removed, and the soil resigned to
its own spontaneous production. All kinds of land, dry and wet,
land fit for the plough and land adapted only for pasture, are thus
applied to the same use, and subjected to the same treatment. The
consequence is an enormous waste of productive capability. 2.
Land is wasted by deer-forests and game-preserving. Immense
ranges of ground are withdrawn from the purposes of industry,
and turned into wastes for the pasturage of deer. Deer add little
or nothing to the wealth of the country : they are useful merely
as the source of amusement to a few privileged men ; so that, with
the exception of an occasional distribution of venison among the
poor, the land erected into forests is literally lost to the great

166 LETTERS FROM THE HIOHLAyDS.

purpose of supporting human life.* The breeding and fostering
of winged game, which is also carried to a great extreme in the
Highlands, retains extensive moors under heather. A vigorous
moor-burn would clear the soil of that emblem of barrenness, and
cover it with grass. But moor-bum is prohibited by the game-
preservers ; and so the sheep of the large graziers, as well as the
cattle of the poor crofters, are deprived of an incalculable amount
of nourishment. 3. A great quantity of soil is lost by natural
wastes. The wastes to which I have been referring are entirely
artificial. Good land is deliberately taken, and, by the will and
hand of man, consigned to sterility and unprofitableness. But in
the finest countries there are tracts of soil which are rendered
useless by some defect or obstruction of Nature, and which are
only brought into a productive state by a large preparatory out-
lay of labour on the part of man. In the Highlands, where Nature
is rude and rugged, the quantity of this description of soil is ne-
cessarily large, it consists principally of mosses, swamps, sea-
beaches, and the seats of old and nearly extinct forests. Two or
three centuries ago, the surface of the Lowlands was scarred by
similar wastes, in places where beautiful crops are now growing,
because capital and labour have been applied to their reclama-
tion. But in the Highlands Nature has been allowed to reign
supreme, and the exterior of the country retains, in the middle
of the nineteenth century, aU the aspect of an unoccupied and
savage territory. 4. Land is also wasted by mperfect cultivation.
It is not unusual to find a field ploughed only in the middle, while
the sides and comers are left untouched. In the club-farms a great
deal of soil is lost by the marches made between the ridges; and the
feeble scraping of the surface-soil which passes for digging may
also be said to waste the ground, by allowing the subsoil to lie

* I have noticed, in a previous letter, the similarity of the rapid increase
of deer-forests in the Highlands to what took place in England in the eleventh
and twelfth centuries, and the probable necessity of resorting to a similar re-
medy. I have been struck \Kith a sentence or two upon this point in a history
written by Daniel, in 1650 : " ^d 13 Knights, or legall men," says this old
writer, referring to measures adopted in the reign of Henry III., " are chosen
in every shire, upon their oath, to dispart the oldForrests from the new. And
all such as were disafforested were disposed at their pleasure who were to pos-
sesse them. Whereupon they were layd open, plowed, and improved, to the
exceeding comfort and benefit of the Subject, whereby men, in stead of wilde
beasts, were sustained, and more room made for them to use their industry."

CONCLUSION. 167

useless to the vrork of vegetation. Such /o-e some of the ways in
which land, the first great element of wealth, is wasted in the
Highlands ; and when it is borne in mind that they form the rule,
and not the exception, it may be conceived how essentially instru-
mental they must be in diminishing the snpply of food, and, con-
sequently, in causing the poverty and hunger of the population.

IT. Waste of Manure. — Manuring is the means of repairing
the waste of soil occasioned by production. A waste of manure,
therefore, is virtually a waste of land, and may be properly classed
next to it as a source of the impoverished condition of the High-
lands. No attention is paid by the crofters generally to the col-
lection of dung-heaps. Though they have all two or three cows
each, and in many instances more, there is the utmost want of
manure for their small patches of arable ground. The cows spend
four 'fifths of their time upon the hills, and their droppings while
in house are seldom cleaned out oftener than twice a-year. Plenty
of bracken might be obtained for the cutting, which would make
excellent bedding for the cattle ; the roads about and near the
crofts are covered with dirt ; and the ditches, if regularly cleared,
would contribute their quota to the enrichment of the soil. But
all these facilities of manure-making are neglected by the crofters ;
and the sheep-farmers, with equal and greater advantages, frequently
urge the want of manure as an excuse for keeping good arable
land in pasture. Sea-ware, therefore, is almost the only manure
used in the Highlands ; and this material would be infinitely more
beneficial than it is, if employed as an ingredient along with the
ordinary materials of a dung-heap ; so that its abundance neither
excuses nor compensates that waste of manure which must be
reckoned among the cardinal evils of the Highlands.

in. Waste of Capital. — Capital may be described as that
part of the annual produce which remains over and above the an-
nual consumption. This surplus is the beginning of capital, and
the measure of its annual increase. The capital of a community
is its accumulated savings. In looking at the various classes of
Highland society, we are at no loss to perceive in whose hands
the power of forming capital resides. Such power cannot be sup-
posed to exist to any extent with the croft and cottar classes.
Their living has been reduced to the lowest point. The most rigid
economy could devise no lower scale of expense ; and yet the out-

168 LETTERS FROM THE HIOHLANDS.

goings of these classes are so fully equal to their incomes, that the
failure of the potato-crop threw them almost universally upon the
charity-list. The landowners and the large farmers are clearly, there-
fore, the only parties whose incomes are large enough to spare a re-
sidue from consumption for the formation of capital. But how have
they done it ? The landlords, instead of saving a part, have con-
sumed more than their incomes. The annual rental of the four coun-
ties of Sutherland, Rx)ss, Inverness, and Argyle, is £597,496 IBs. ;
but how much of this, after paying the interest of money-lenders and
family incumbrances, really goes into the hands of the nominal pro-
prietors ? Perhaps a third, a fourth, or not more than a fifth. Then
three-fourths of the proprietors receiving this fraction of the annual
rental are absentees, and squander their incomes on personal en-
joyment in foreign lands. The remnant of annual rental, which
escapes the clutches of mortgagees, dowagers, and younger branches
of families, requires, therefore, to be reduced to a still lower
fraction, in order to represent the sum which goes into the hands
of proprietors resident in the Highlands ; and of this sum, small
as it necessarily must be, a very insignificant portion can be saved
from consumption, for the formation of capital, and for purposes
of improvement. Thus a magnificent rental of upwards of half-
a-miUion, from wliich it woidd not be too much to expect an an-
nual saving of one or two hundred thousand pounds, is frittered
away, wasted, and lost to the Highlands, by the extravagance
either of present or former proprietors. As for the large farmers,
they are also in a great measure an absentee class. The sheep-
waJis are principally held by gentlemen who have farms in the
• south, and who carry away with them the profits and savings ac-
cumulated in the Highlands. It was this fact which induced the
Duke of Sutherland, one of the few Highland proprietors who
lays out his income where it is produced, to resolve upon break-
ing down his grazing farms to a smaller size. That excellent
nobleman saw that it was in vain that he let his farms at low
rents, and expended a princely income year after year upon im-
provements, so long as he tolerated a class of non-resident gra-
ziers who carried away from the estate all that they produced from
the soil, or could squeeze from a too liberal landlord. He therefore
resolved to do what every wise man would do in the same circum-
stances, namely, to break down the sheep-walks to such a size as
vnll secure the constant residence of the tenants. The absentee
graziers do not waste the capital saved by them in the Highlands ;

CONCLUSION. 169

they are men who generally know what to do with their money ;
but they carry it out of the Highlands, and thus complete the dis-
persion of that surplus produce which is the life-blood of industry,
the germ and the food of improvement.

IV. Waste op Labour. — In the Highlands there is a want of
roads, of machinery, of implements, and of every contrivance of
intellect and art, by which manual labour is assisted and facilitated.
Consequently the people have to expend a great deal more bodily
toil in accomplishing certain purposes than would be necessary in
other parts of the country. Take the simple process of peat-mak-
ing as an example. The moss may be two, three, or four miles
from the hamlet or village ; but for want of a road, or if there
happen to be a road, for want of carts, it is generally impossible
to bring home the peats after they are cut and dried. They are,
therefore, built in heaps in the moss, and are carried off in back-
burdens as they are needed during winter ; and thus to secure
a supply of fuel, which elsewhere is the work of only a few days,
costs in the Highlands a great part of the labour of half the year.
The want of fences, also, for example, besides obstructing a pro-
per rotation of crops, occasions a great waste of labour in herd-
ing. The carrying of manure to the land is also a work of woe-
ful drudgery. After the seaware has been dragged from the tide,
it has to be carried in creels over rough paths, and up steep hills;
and this laborious and degrading task, I regret to say, falls gene-
rally to the lot of the females. The grinding of com is another
source of trouble. When the Highlandman rises in the morning,
he generally finds that he must go to the moss before he can kindle
his fire, and to the mill before he can break his fast. And thus,
in a hundred ways, both in the cultivation of the crofts and in the
more simple concerns of the family, a great amount of precious
labour is wasted, which would tell with effect upon the physical
comforts of the people if economised for other and more profitable
purposes.

V. Waste op Time. — The Highland people spend a great part
of their time in idleness. Work is seldom commenced till a late
hour in the morning, and winter is uniformly a time of almost en-
tire cessation from labour. The Rev. Alexander Macdouald, late
minister of Plockton, made a statement on this point to the Poor
Law Commissioners in 184j3, which still applies to many districts

170 LETTERS FROM THE mOIILANDS.

of the Highlands. " I am a native of Caithness," said the reve-
rend gentleman, "where the people are accustomed to work. When
I first came here I was struck with amazement at seeing the idle-
ness of the people. During four months of the year, in the winter
season, they go about with their hands in their pockets, doing no-
thing; and before T came here, I scarcely thought there was so
much idleness under the sun." It would be difficult to say who
is most to blame for this enormous and deplorable waste of time.
It is evident that the people have little to tempt them from idle-
ness, whether voluntary or involuntary. From the period when the
old military clanship was broken up, no pains have been taken to
initiate them in the spirit of the new social system into which they
were introduced, no encouragement has been given to industry, no
means have ever been laid before the people of constant well-paid
employment, and, under the laxity and neglect of the new order
of things, the population have, doubtless, acquired habits of indo-
lence which it will require time and a better system to eradicate.
The ease with which potato-planting and herring-fishing supplied
the means of existence had the effect of accommodating the wants
of the people to habits of idleness; but now, when starvation is at
every door, it is absurd to suppose that regular employment at fair
wages would not have attractions sufficient to arouse the people
from apathy and indolence, however deeply confirmed.

Such is the multiform waste to which I attribute Highland
want. It is scarcely conceivable that any one who considers for
a moment this systematic neglect of all the most precious means
by which communities provide for their necessities, should wonder
at the prostrate and poverty-stricken condition of the Highland
people. Reverse the order of the evils to which I have alluded,
and observe how plainly and completely they lay the foundation
of a state of destitution and beggary. The people spend neady
one-half the year in idleness ; when they do work, their labour is
wasted for want of implements, and by rude and unskilful methods
of industry ; a large proportion of the fruits of their toil, meagre
as they necessarily must be, are carried away to meet the demands
of money-lenders, and defray the expenses of pleasure-hunting in
England and the Continent ; and the annual produce being thus
cut down and frittered away, the people are consequently impo-
verished, and the land lies in its aboriginal state of waste and
ruggedness, while population increases in numbers. Such is the

CONCLUSIOX.

system in operation in the Higlilanda. Were the causes of public
misery ever more nunierona, more complex and inveterate, and, at
the same time, so striking^ so obvionSj and so |>dpablc ?

It T^dll be saidj as a niitxual inference from these observation?,
that the remedy lies with the Highlanders themselves ; the people
have oidy to improve their time, and to work, — to work labori
ously, ingeniously, and constantly, — and the landlords to be saving,
patriotic, and cnteq>rismg, in order to introduce a total and paJu^
tary cliaiige. I have no desire to weaken the force of this view of
the case, Hercules only helps those who help themselves. Tliis
is a maxim which cannot be too deeply impressed upon tbe Hi^h>
hmd miud. The Temple of Plenty can only be entered thrtrngh
the Porch of Labour. In sunny and gcmai dimes, where tbe earth
sends forth ber fruits in spontaneous profusion, men may eat tbe
bread of idleness witli comparative impunity ; but m the Hig!i-
lands, vrith its cold blasts, its deluges of rain^ and its iron soil,
life can only be sustained by baj-d and persevering exertion.
Highknders I this is the condition imposed by that land of moun-
tains and storms you love m well, and it is the part of true i>ft-
triotism to submit to it. If you wo aid cling to yonr native country,
you must labour uueeasiiigly to improve, adorn, and replenish her
waste places. You must bnild up her mined walls. Yon nmst
renew and rc-cultivatc ber obliterated tielda. You must drain her
marshes. l"ou must economise and develop her resoiu'ces* lou
must work, work, work, and work as you have never worked be-
fore, till her face is irradiated witli the smile of plenty, and her
very deserts rejoice and blossom as the rose. It is only by baid
toil and patient aelf-sacrifice, on the part both of the peo])!e and
the chiefs, that the Higldands can be made a lit place for her nu-
merous children to live in,

Tbese sentiments cannot be too widely scattered abroad, or tcjo
urgently enforced. Let ministers^ teachers, factors, conductors of
tlie prc^s, all who have access to the ears and understandings of
the people, preach moessaiitly the lessons of labour and economy.
Their elforts will not be in vain. The voice of instruction will find
a gratefid response in every tnie Hlgldand heart.

But it would be a gross delusion to suppose tbat the wheels of
improvement can he set in motion by any spontaneous effort of
the people. The crofters and cottiirs of the Highlands, however
deeply convinced of tbe value of time and tbe curse of idleness,
eanuot work more unlesa work be provided them ; and the pro-

•

172 LETTEBS FROM THE HIQHLANDS.

prietors, though willing to do their part, may be retarded and pa-
ralysed by their engagements with the graziers, by the extrayaganoe
of their predecessors, by their own poverty, their own prejudice*
against the people, and even by the laws ; and thus the cause of
improvement sticks fast in the slough of general impotence, till
the Government, like the waggoner in the fable, put its shoulders
to the wheel. An impulse, strong and abiding, must be given from
without, before the social machine can move with freedom amid
the contrarieties of interest and purpose by which it is clogged.
Moreover, the case is a desperate one. Hunger is at work —
hunger, which stops the ears against the voice of instruction, which
breeds despair, which fosters a listless improvidence, which indis-
poses the heart to all those maxims with which it is most neces-
sary that the Highland people should be imbued. The jaws of this
monster must be closed. The first duty of a Government is to pre-
serve life; and any measures which, while accomplishing this object,
will, at the same timcj stimulate the various classes of the com-
munity to a more vigorous discharge of their duties, and to a fru-
gal and industrious development of their resources, would form,
to my conception, the most perfect remedies for the present state
of the Highlands which human ingenuity could devise. Let me
request the attention of my readers to certain measures which
have occurred to me as most nearly fulfilling these conditions.

I. A Liberal and Effectual Poor Law. — ^To begin at the
base of the social edifice — ^the aged, infirm, and disabled poor,
widows, and fatherless children, are the first to attract our atten-
tion. The Poor-Law Amendment Act of 1845 has had two effects.
It has increased the public allowances of the poor, and diminished
the alms distributed through the channel of private and voluntary
charity ; but it is questionable if the gain has compensated the
loss. The HigMand parochial boards, generally speaking, mani-
fest the most determined hostility to the legal claims of the poor ;
and the defect of the present state of the law is, that it leaves the
poor entirely powerless to assert their rights in opposition to their
local oppressors. The Act of 1845 closed against them the liberty
of appeal to the Court of Session ; nor did it compensate them for
this deprivation by referring their claims to courts of easier ac-
cess ; but, on the contrary, handed them over to the tender mer-
cies of a Central Board of Supervision, sitting in secret, hearing
their complaints only upon schedules, refusing them a right of re-

CONCLCSJOjr.

17:i

ply to tlie aUegationa of hostile inspectors, and giving no reaaons
for its decisions, though inFolviiig questions of life or deatli to tlie
poor. The sheriffa of counties were even debarred from gi'vdng them
justice when deprived of adequate relief. All these precautions were
taken lest the poor mi^lit have power to impose upon, or tyrannise
over, the parochial hoards, A grosser miaapprehension of the re-
lative position and strength of the two parties could not possiWy
be acted upon. A Highland pauper is one of the most helpless of
mortals: a H^hlaiid I'oor's Board, so far as its jurisdiction extends,
is all-powerful, embracing in its ranks tlie whole wealth and inJlu-
cnee of a parish. If the Leg^islature had had any sincere intention
of giving the poor a chance of justice against the self- interested pre-
judices of the hoards, it would have thought of strengthening in-
stetKl of weakening tlieir position. But the blunder or the crime,
wliicliever it may be, of ISiS, ought now to be atoned for. Let
the sheriffs be empowered to redew the decisions of the jiaroehial
hoards in respect to the amount of relief; let the old right of ap-
peal, free of let or hindrance, to the Court of Session he restored;
let the Board of Supervision itself bf. made amenable in all lis acts
to that an|)reme tribunal to which all classes and bodies of Scotch-
men are accustomed to bow in respectful deference; and, in shorty
let every possible facility be given to the poor of stating their com-
plaints in the courts of justice, of having their claims impartially
investigated, and of obtaining decisions in accordance with the law,
and not with the narrow and dlibeml views of bodies wliich have
a palpable interest in depriving them of an adequate maintenance.
As for the objection that the expense of maintaining tiie poor would
soon cunsimie the entire rental of the Highlands, it has no foun-
dation in facts. The tottd amoimt expended on the poor in tlie four
counties of Sntherhimi,E.os5, Inverness, and Argyle, during the year
ending May, iy^7j though embracing six months of the severe and
nniver^^al distress occasioned by the failure of the iK>tato crop, was
only £S7,61S lis* 7|d., being scarcely 0^ per cent, of the valued
rental. This sum may be considerably increased, witliont exceed-
Lug the rate of assessment in many pails of the coimtry in ordinary
years. But even supi>osiug that the expenditure on the poor should
rise to a height extremely inconvenient to the proprietors, I do not
perceive that this would be disastrous. The proprietors have the
memis of correcting this evil in then* own hands. There is no
comitry on earth where the dnty of children to support their aged
and disabled parents, and the ties of kindred generally, are more

p 2

174 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLAyDS.

profoundly respected than in the Highlands. As long as a High-
landman has a bite and a sup, he shares it with an aged father or
mother. It is only when reduced to poverty himself that he al-
lows any of his near kindred to claim the benefit of the poor's roll.
The policy of the Highland lairds for many years has been to de^
prive the able-bodied of their holdings of land, to reduce them to
the verge of destitution, and compel them, if possible, to emigrate.
The direct tendency of these measures has been to increase the
number of the aged and infirm dependent upon parochial relief.
The proprietors have only to reverse their policy, to keep the able-
bodied at home, to lay open the soil to their industry, and to pro-
mote tlieir comfort and independence, in order to reduce the burden
of the aged and disabled poor. This is the safety-valve of a liberal
and effectual Poor Law. While it would protect the poor from
starvation and suffering, it would constrain the owners of property,
by the bonds of self-interest, to consult the happiness of the people,
to strive for their employment, and to introduce that new divisioa
and management of the soil which lie at the foundation of perma-
nent improvement. The same considerations which induced the
proprietors would dispose the sheep-farmers to submit to the new
order of things.

II. A Law for the Unemployed. — ^I purposely separate the
consideration of the case of the unemployed from the general
question of the Poor Law, because, as I think, much unnecessary
prejudice has been raised by confounding and mixing up the two
together. It is not alms or eleemosynary relief that I ask for the
able-bodied poor of the Highlands. It is work— employment —
liberty to earn bread by the sweat of the brow ; and if this con-
sideration is kept steadily in view, all objections usually urged
against the claims of the unemployed will be found to disappear.

The question, in my view, is exceedingly simple. A large pro-
portion of the soil of the Highlands lies waste and uncultivated.
A large proportion of the annual rent, which naturally should form
the capital for reclaiming it, is also carried off, and either idly
wasted, or, at all events, consumed in purposes foreign to the
improvement of the Highlands. The people are consequently un-
employed and impoverished. And the evil is increasing. Yearly
the people are ejected from their farms, to make room for sheep-
walks and deer-forests. The potato failures have brought these
evils to a crisis, and the country is pressed with the alternative

C0N0LU3I0N. 175

of shipping off one-half the population to the colonies, or feeding
them at home by means of public relief funds. It is well to bear
in mind, that these are the only measures which those who set them-
selves against a le^al recognition of the unemployed have to choose
upon. In these circumstances, I propose that a law should be
passed giving the able-bodied who are deprived of their lands, or
cannot find work of themselves, a right to employment from their
parishes. It will not be denied, that abundant employment, of a
productive and remunerative character, may be procured in the
Highlands. The expense of setting the unemployed to work
would not be great ; because, at the end of the first season, the
people's labour, if applied to the cultivation of land, would jteld
a return of food, and these returns would annually increase. The
land is there, the labour is there, and all that is wanted is the
necessary funds to maintain the labourers during the initiative
stage of the works. It is reasonable that the productive property
of the Highlands, yielding, over four counties, an annual rental of
upwards of half-a-million, should be charged with the preliminary
expense of improving the remainder which is waste and unpro-
ductive. Capital, therefore, would be raised by an improvement
tax levied upon property. The task of planning and organising
these industrial undertakings would be committed to a Board of
Works. To aid it in its operations, each parochial board should
be required to appoint a committee of works. Upon complaints
being lodged with this committee from labourers suffering from
want of employment, intimation would be given to the Board of
Works, who would send down a surveyor, who, in company with
the local committee, would proceed to inspect the parish, and re-
solve upon the works which were most needed, and promised to
be most advantageous. It should be a strict regulation, that no
individual employed and paid by the Board of Works be hired out
to private individuals, or labour upon private property. The un-
employed, while in the pay of the public, should give their ser-
vices exclusively to the public ; so that when the reclamation of
waste lands was resolved upon, the lands to be reclaimed would
be purchased upon valuation from the proprietor, (on the same
principle as land is purchased for railways, or, as it is proposed
in a bill before Parliament, to purchase it for sites of churclies,)
and become the property of the parish, or, in other words, of those
from whom the purchase-money and the expense of improvement
were to be assessed. When the improvement-tax rose above a cer-

176 LETTERS FROM THE HIGHLANDS.

tain amount in any parish, it might be provided that the suiplos
should be spread over a larger district ; and when it rose above a
certain rate in such district, be spread over a larger still : these
extra contributions to be regarded as loans advanced to the parish
upon security of -the works to which they were to be appli^. It
would be the duty of the Board of Works to see that every man
was paid according to his labour, and to take such precautions as
might be necessary to secure that their undertakings would be
well and economically executed. Such, in few words, is an out-
line of what I mean by a law for the unemployed.

It would be preposterous to argue that such a system is calcu-
lated to encourage the labouring classes in habits of improvideiice.
A system of eleemosynary relief might have that effect : a system
which merely secured them constancy of employment could never
have such a tendency. On the contrary, it would strengthen the
disposition to save, by giving for the first time the power of sav-
ing. Those breaks in the poor man's industry, over which he has
no control, those dreary seasons of involuntary idleness to which
he is doomed, ieep him in a state of poverty and wretchedness in
which it is impossible to be provident. But assure him that, while
God blesses him with health and strength, he will never want a
day's work and a day's wage, and you raise him above the enfeebling
influence of despair, you give stability to his earnings — ^which
is the first condition of accumulation — and inspire him with that
buoyancy of spirit which is the mainspring of persevering exer-
tion. Let it never be said that liberty to work for daily bread is
a boon — a charity — conferred upon the labouring man by society.
It is a natural right ; and socie^ is as richly blessed by its exer-
cise as the labourer himself. In less happy times than the pre-
sent, the great anxiety of the Legislature was to prevail upon
the idle to labour, and some old. statutes decree the most horrid
penalties — such as nailing the ears to a tree, cutting them off alto-
gether, banishing, and even hanging — against such refractory va-
grants as refused to work. But now the difficulty is reversed, and
the Legislature cannot be prevailed upon to provide employment
for the idle. Depend upon it, these two states of things touch
each other in reality, as well as in antithesis. If the unemployed
have long to call for work to the Legislature in vain, the tune
will come when the Legislature will find it equally fruitless to call
the unemployed from a life of idleness.
It would be equally out of place to ai*gue that the proposed law

CONCLUSION. 177

would merely transfer to public works capital which would find
its way to the employment of labour through a private and more
legitimate channel. The system of leaving proprietors to make what
use they would of the rental of the Highlands has hitherto had full
scope, and what has it led to ? To the private employment of la-
bour ? No, certainly ; but to absenteeism, to personal extrava-
gance, to mortgages, to the annihilation of capital, and the ruin
of labour. The proposed law would check these evils. It would
transfer to productive industry funds which are at present squan-
dered upon idle and luxurious pleasures. It would save the in-
heritance of labour from the clutches of usury. It would turn back
the stream of rent from the aristocratic resorts of London, Paris,
Naples, and Boulogne, to fructify the wastes and mosses of Scot-
land ; and, as a necessary consequence, food, rents, and capital,
would all be increased. Instead of encroaching upon the private
employment of labour, it would stimulate and encourage it. When
landlords perceived that the law made them liable to be taxed for
the employment of the able-bodied, they would hesitate before they
cleared their estates for the purpose of making deer-forests. That
would be one good point gamed. And when they found, still fur-
ther, that, if they neglected to reclaim their waste lands and em-
ploy labourers, the law would step in and do these things for them
at their cost, they would speedily learn the propriety of turning
their attention to the study of agriculture and the interests of the
people. It would be only when they contemned all warning, and"^
persisted in trampling under foot the first duties of their station,
that this law would step in and apply the corrective. It would be
a negative check rather than a positive and aggressive system ;
and though, when it did come into operation, its results would be
entirely beneficial, yet I believe its chief and greatest effect would
be to arouse and stimulate the owners of property to pursue a
course of improvement and industry.

The chief recommendations of such a law are these: — ^It would
employ and feed the able-bodied and famished population of the
Highlands. It would put an end to that system of improvised and
central relief which has had to be periodically resorted to, and which,
after all the thought I have given to the subject, I am convinced
is both inefficient in point of relief, and deeply injurious in its effects
upon the habits of the people. It would diminish pauperism, and
might lead to the ultimate extinction of poor-rates. The reclaimed
lands, and other public works, would be the property of the parishes.

178 LETTERS FROM THE HIOHLAKDS.

and yield a revenue which, upon the establishment of prosperity,
might go far to defray the entire expense of the poor. By placing
employment within the reach of all, it would leave no excuse fiir
idleness. Idleness, without means of self-support, mi^t be treated
as a crime against the commonwealth. The public works would
afford an excellent field for drilling the Highlanders in industry,
for inuring them to hard labour, and training them in those habits
of steady perseverance and self-exertion upon which their perma-
nent prosperity must depend. And if it were wished to hold out
a prize to honourable ambition, the reclaimed lands might be sold
in small lots, upon easy terms, to such as choose to signalise them-
selves by hard work and persevering economy, and the foundation
be thus laid of a class of small freeholders like the peasant-pro-
prietors who have wrought such prodigies of industry in Belgium,
in Norway, in Sweden, and in Switzerland. In short, such a law
for the unemployed would both relieve distress and put a series of
influences in train that would effectually abolish that waste of land,
capital, labour, and time, which constitutes the great source of
Highland destitution.

in. Abolition op Entails. — The tendency of the preceding
measures is to impose onerous obligations upon the owners of pro-
perty: it is necessary that they have freedom to discharge these
obligations. The Highland lairds are to be called upon to perform
the duties of property; they must, therefore, be invested with its
rights. They must be proprietors in deed and in truth, and not
merely in name. The law of entail places the heirs in possession
in a most humbling and powerless position. While it retains the
privilege of administering the property in hands which have long
withered in the grave, it gives its revenues to money-lenders, whose
shadowy forms are eqjially wrapped up from public responsibility
and public view. The heir in possession stands before the waM
as the corporeal representative of these spectre deities, without
their power or their wealth, a mark to be shot at for their im-
punity, and the butt of general contempt. This system might live
while it was optional for property to fulfil or evade its obligations;
but in that state of stem and compulsory government which is
necessary for the Highlands, it is totally impracticable. The true
owners of property must be dragged forth from that insubstantial
framework behind which they conceal themselves. There is real
work to be done in the Highlands, and there must be real men to

CONCLUSION. 179

do it. The heirs in possession must be free agents. They must
have power to improve, to borrow, to sell part or the whole of their
estates, to bear the burdens of their station, or, if not able, to make
room for those who are. To this end, it is essential that the law
of entail be entirely abolished.

rV. Greater and better means op Education. — It is ap-
parent, from many parts of these letters, that there is a great de-
ficiency of the means of instruction in the Highlands. Parishes
in the Highlands are as large as many English counties, and to
each of these the parochial system usually gives but one school.
The position of the population has also been changed of late years,
so that the parochial schools are frequently very difficult of access
even to the majority of the parishioners. The fishing villages, for
example, are all recent creations, which were not contemplated when
the sites of many of the schools were selected. It is usual to find
one of these villages, with a population of 300 or 400, without a
school within a distance of several miles. The number of uneducated
children must necessarily be immense. I have no statistics to ap-
peal to, adequate to give a sufficient idea of the educational des-
titution, later than 1833 and 1837. In the former year, the Ge-
neral Assembly's Committee found that, in a district embracing
the islands and twenty-four mainland parishes, and containing a
population of 151,053, there were no fewer than 55,718 persons,
above the age of six years, unable to read in any language. In
1837, four years later, it was found by the Glasgow Destitution
Committee, that in the same district, with the population in-
creased to 154,763, the number of schools had fallen from 328 to
266, and the number of scholars from 16,891 to 13,586 ! An in-
quiry at the present day would probably fail to exhibit any more
satisfactory results. Tftie people are perishing, both temporally
and spiritually, for " lack of knowledge." One of the most essen-
tial measures to the permanent improvement of the country is a
comprehensive system of instruction, which will bring the means
of a sound intellectual, religious, and industrial training within
reach of every family. Every hamlet with two or three hundred
people should have its school ; and as this would entail an expen-
diture disproportioned to the present resources of the parishes, it
is an undertaking which should receive the pecuniary aid of the
Grovemment. The districts in which the schools were established
might be required to provide the ground and the materials for

] 80 LETTERS FROM THE HI6HLANDS.

erecting the necessary buildings ; the Scotch teinds held by the
Crown, amounting to £15,741 12s. 5d. per annum, two-thirds of
which are leased out to private parties, who pay little or nothing
for them, might be applied — as a temporary endowment, at least
— to the teachers ; and whatever more was required could be pro-
vided by a parliamentary vote. The remuneration and comforts
of the teachers should be raised to a point which would secure the
services of able and qualified individuals ; and arrangements should
be made in every school for training the female scholars in those
domestic duties, and the male in those arts of industry, which are
the characteristic and the pride of civilised life. A few years of
such discipline would work a beautiful change upon the social as-
pect of the Highlands. It would form an admirable accompani-
ment to those measures of an industrial character which I have al-
ready suggested ; and by raising the spirit and intelligence of the
people, enlarging their views and hopes, and introducing them in-
to the great community of nations, would silently, but effectively,
originate and promote a remedy which I forbear to include in my
list of public measures, because it is only beneficial when it springs
spontaneously from the hearts of an informed and educated people.
It is a well-ascertained fact, that voluntary emigration from the
Highlands has been greatest in the parishes where education is the
most widely diffused ; and there is no doubt that, under a thorough
system of instruction, and a higher standard of comfort, an egress
of population would arise naturally and voluntarily, sufficient to
preserve an equality between the means and the numbers of the
.people.

These are the measures which I consider necessary for the High-
lands — necessary for their present safety, and necessary to provide
for their future and permanent welfare. The exigencies of the
population cannot long be neglected with impunity. They are
even now a burden to the country, and if steps be not immedi-
ately taken to enable the people to support themselves in comfort
and independence, an infinity of trouble and expense will be trea-
sured up against us in the future. The Highlanders have hitherto
been deplorably neglected by the Legislature. Its policy and its
acts have been powerful only to destroy. By a course of coercion
it has succeeded in shattering the old system of clanship ; but it
has overlooked the equally important and more difficult task of
building up a new social edifice, in which the people might enjoy

CONCLUSION. 181

the blessings of a more noble existence. Some antiquarian High-
landers have a notion that prosperity fled from their native hilb
when Malcolm Canmore removed his court to the Lowlands : let
us hope that it is destined to return with the royal footsteps of
Victoria. Her Majesty has given the most unequivocal tokens of
her affection for the Iwid and people of the North. That feeling
is warmly reciprocated by the Highlanders towards her Majesty ;
and in these days of loud-tongued sedition and scarce disguised
treason, it would be unpardonable impolicy to disappoint the reason-
able hopes of a population who have preserved an unbroken peace,
and a pure and imtainted loyalty, under the most provoking wrongs
and the bitterest sufferings.

APPENDIX.

No. I.

My remarks on the administration of the Poor-Law in Blair- Atholl
drew forth the following letter from the Established minister of that
parish to the Editor of the North British Daily Mail : —

Sir, — Some one has sent me your paper of the 23d instant, containing an
article by your " Special Correspondent," on the state of the parish of Blair-
Atholl, under the title, "Condition of the Highlands." With the greater part
of his lucubrations I mean not to meddle. I have no special call to expose
his mis-statements or controvert his reasonings on matters that do not con-
cern myself personally, my time being employed more profitably, I hope, both
to myself and others, than it could be in newspaper controversy.

But I feel it to be due to myself, as well as to others, to take public notice
of what he says of the state of the poor in this parish ; and I am obliged to
say that on that subject there are nearly as many mis-statements as there are
sentences in the paragraph that refers to it.

lie says, " There are 70 poor in the parish receiving parochial relief." The
roll is now before me, and the number of poor in the parish receiving regular
and occasional aliment is 48.

He says, "The general aliment is 6d. a-week.** Of the 42 paupers on the
regular roll, there are just four receiving that amount, all the rest receiving
more ; and of these four, three have houses rent-free, and are able to earn a
good deal by their ovm industry; the fourth, from whom no complaints have
reached the parochial board, has a daughter who properly and dutifully contri-
butes to her maintenance.

He says further, " Nothing can be more meagre and inadequate than the
allowance doled out to the poor." Has he such a minute acquaintance with
their circumstances, and their means of subsistence from whatever sources, as
to entitle him to say so P I must take leave to say that his information upon
this point is of a piece with what he gives as the amount of their allowances.

He proceeds — " The Queen, during her visit to Blair- Atholl, gave a dona-
tion of £100 for the benefit of destitute people in the parish ; and great com-
plaints are made of the way in which the kirk-session dealt with her Majesty's
bounty. Two years elapsed before it was finally distributed. It was given
out in sums of 5s. from time to time, and was a relief to the heritors rather

184 APPENDIX.

than the poor, as in many cases it was snbstitated for the allowanoe which the
poor would otherwise have received from the parochial fund." This lasl
statement is utterly unfounded. In no case was the Queen's donation substi-
tuted for the allowance which the poor would have received from the parish
fund. They got their regular allowances, and their shares of the Queen's
bounty in addition. It is true that this fund was distributed from time to
time, and that some complaints may have been made that it was not all paid
away at once. But it is no unreasonable request to make, that the managers
of the poor should be allowed to know in what way a sum left at their disposal
could be best bestowed for the benefit of the poor themselves ; and your cor-
respondent must deem your readers more ignorant of human nature than I do,
if he expects them to believe that a large sum paid away at once would not,
in many cases at least, liave been grossly abused.

Your correspondent, in the next instance, proceeds to generalise in the as-
sumed accuracy of his previous statements, and says, " the administration of
the poor law, in rural parishes generally, is partial and corrupt." If, as I am
led to conclude from the juxtaposition of this sweeping condemnation to the
passage previously quoted, Blair- Atholl is one of those parishes, it is only left
me, from the general terms of the statement, to give it a flat denial. The ad-
ministration of the poor law in this parish is not partial, if by that he meant
that any other rule is observed than the extent of the paupers* necessities. It
is not corrupt, if by that he meant that it is conducted vrith any other Tiew
than the relief of the poor. I must further say, that if his charge against
other parishes rests on no better foundation than his charge against this ; or
rather, as it certainly seems, if his charge against them rests on the case he
thinks he has made out against this, no charge could be more unwarranted, or
less supported by facts.

He proceeds — " An entire change is desirable, as it is most unreasonable
that proprietors, who clear the people off their estates, for what they consider
their own private advantage, and thereby reduce the aged and infirm to pauper-
ism, should be permitted to evade the burthens entailed by their ovni system.**
I, too, think this unreasonable ; but I deny that any evasion of the legal bur-
tlien of supporting the poor has been attempted here.

I have another charge to bring against your correspondent. He speaks of
the "extremities with which the labourers were threatened'* last winter, owing
to the high price of provisions, and mentions, in a very ungracious fashion,
the Duke of Atholl's raising the wages of his labourers, which he attributes
to " the immense lever power of railways," and gives the Duke no credit for a
desire to mitigate the pressure of the past trying season. But did your cor-
respondent hear nothing of a meal fund, by which about 180 bolls of oatmeal
were sold at the rate of 20s. per boll, when the market price of it ran from
30s. to 32s.? Did he not hear that 64 families of the industrious poor —
none of whom were on the pauper roll — were thereby relieved, and enabled to
maintain themselves with comparative ease P It is not credible that a person
so minutely, however inaccurately informed on other matters affecting the
poor, should be ignorant of this. What, then, is to be thought of his fair-
ness in withholding the slightest hint of it, and , moreover, grumbling "that
the Central Relief Board refused to send supplies into Blair- Atholl,** when he
must have known that Blair-Atholl was able to supply the wants of its own

poor, nud to contribute a very large sum beaides to the ftinJa of that centml
board >

Whether the suppresjno veri^ as well aa the sngffeniio faisif nnta vitli your
corrfispoddent, ur (It' he be a iitniiigcT to Bkir-Atholl) with those who misled
him, is hiE aifair. He is respoiii^ihlc for what he givc^ to the world, aad
should have been cnreful^ cspR<:ially when bringing such sweeping cliEvrges^ to
derive his iuformHtion from trtiat worthy sources, and not from thos« who are
foiidur of a grievance thau of truth — a nile I woidd conunend to the special
obscrvimce of ail aouthroos who uudttrtake to enlighten the public oa the
" Coadilion of the Highlajids."

I am, Sir, your obedient sen* ant,

Alex. 11. Ikvipte.
The Manse, BhiirAtlioll. Oet. 25,

Id rppty to the above, I addressed the followmg letter to the Editor
of the Mail : —

Sir, — It was only on my arriTal Bit- Fnrt-WiHiam, a few days ago, that I
learned that the parish miniater of BIidr-AthoU had written yoa a letter in coa-
tradtetiou of certain fitatertietit-a made by me in reference to the administmtiou
of the Poor-law in that parish. With your usual di8iiitcrestt»ducs.s, yon gftve
immediate publii^ity to that hitter, though you must hnve been aware that a coa-
aiderabiB time would elapse before its contents could come into my hands, and
coascquently hefore I could have an op])orl unity of replying to it. Mrn Irviue
has no doubt begun long ere this to imiigine that his letter la uucin&werable;
and if I uow proceed to disturb the equanimity of his fancied triumph, I hope
he will have the good sense to see that it is a duty which his unqnalilied dfiuiids
render unavoidable.

Mr. Inline denies everything^ and insinuates a great deal, but he states nothing
positive, lie iipeaks of haviug the poor's roE of Bkir-Atholl before him^ and
yet be keeps the curious information it cotitainH a profound secret. He denies
Umt 6d. a-weck is tbe general aliment of (he poor in that parish, but he takes
care not to infona ua what the geueral idimeut really ia. lie denies that the
Queeu'ii donation was distribntcd a.s a subatitute for tbo maintenance lo wlucb
the- poor are entitled from the parish, but ho withholds all information' calcu-
lated to overturn the strong pmbabiiities that it was so substituted. This, it
must be confessed, ia a very safe mode of controversy^ and one that excites very
grave auspiciona when employed by a person complaining so bitterly us Mr. Ir-
viae does of the iuaccurato information and the mis-statements of the correspond
dents of the press^ If fabehoods have been told, why does not Mr. Irvine oul
with the truth F

It w ould be of little use to follow Mr. IrvineV eoimiii, and re-assert whftt he
Ims denied, or to inform you what, I presume, you are very sensible of already,
namely, that I never make statements without having tho best grounds for be-
lieving them to be true. I will appeal to documents, whoso authority will not
be questioned by auy,^ and some of which even Mr. Imiie will not he able to
contradiet without belying himself.

I stated in my letters from Blair- Atlioll, that tliera are 70 poor receiving
parochial relief in that pariah. Mr. Irvine, on the contrary, says thut tliere are
ooly IS, I liave llkme blue buokA in my posaessioa-^the General Assembly's

•

186 APPENDIX.

Bcport on the Poor in 1839, the Minutes of Evidence taken hy the Poor-law
Commissioners in 1843, and the Tirst (and latest) Beport of the Board of Su-
pervision, presented to Parliament at the beginning of the present year. Ac-
cording to the first of these authorities, the average number of poor in Blair-
Atholl in the three years, 1835-6-7, was 66. From the second it appears that
the number of paupers relieved in that parish, in 1842, was 68. And the last-
named docuraent,theBlair-Atholl department of which must have been drawn up
under Mr. Irvine's own inspection, if not by that gentleman himself, bears that 66
poor persons were relieved in that parish from February, 1845, to the same
month in 184-G. I ask if, with these authenticated facts before me, conjoined
with the testimony of intelligent persons in the parish, and with the knowledge
that the past year was one of extreme distress, during which the number on the
poor's roll would naturally increase rather than diminish, I was not fully jus-
tified in stating that there are 70 poor receiving parochial relief in Blair- AtholL
What clearer proofs could I possibly have of the correctness of my information?
But this does not content me ; I like to make progress in controversies of this
kind ; and I ask ^Ir. Irvine what explanation he has to give of the discrepancy
between the facts communicated by him to the Board of Supervision, and those
contained in his letter to the Mail ? Is it possible that he and the heritors
of Blair- A.tholl have reduced the number of poor receiving aid from the parish
from 65 to 48 in the course of a single year, and that year one of the severest
and most difiicult to the poor that has occurred in modem times ? If this be
the case (aud it is the only solution I can devise without impeaching Mr. Ir-
vine's veracity), it is high time the public should be made acquainted with the
grounds on which 17 recipients of relief have been suddenly cut off from a
privilege so long awarded them.

In answer to my statement that the general aliment of the poor in Blair-
Atholl is 6d. a-week, Mr. Irvine says that "there are just four receiving that
aliment, all the rest receiving more." But how much more? If some receive
6d. and the eighth or the fourth of a farthing, can I fairly be accused of mis-
statement in sa) ing generally that the aliment is 6d.? Mr. Irvine admits that
I am right to a fraction in four cases ; but with respect to three of these he
observes that they have houses rent-free. My statement referred to aUnient
only, and not to lodging and clothing. It is not uncommon in rural parishes
to pay the house-rents of the poor, to supply them with shoes and other arti-
cles of clothing, and sometimes to make a distribution of coals ; and in calcu-
lating the amount of relief bestowed, these items are naturally included in the
general allowance to the poor. But when I state that 6d. a-week is the usual ali-
ment, it is obvious that I refer exclusively to the sum which comes into the hands
of the poor for the purchase of food; and, in the absence of everything like facts
from Mr. Irvine to the contrary, I still adhere to that estimate as being as closely
and substantially correct as any person, not having access to the poor's-roll,
could reasonably be expected to make. What say our printed authorities ?
I find that both Mr. Irvine and his session-clerk were examined by the Poor-
law Commissioners. The latter, on being asked what the ordinary allowance
was in his parish, gave the following answer : " The ordinary allowance to
poor persons on the permanent roll, in Blair-Atholl, is Is. 6d. a week, or a
fortnight, or once in the three weeks, according to circumstances." The rapi-

^y with which the session-clerk slides down from Is. to 6d. a week is typical.

APPENDIX. 187

I presume, of the delectable uncertainty which adheres to the fate of the poor
in Blair- Atholl. Yet I suppose these allowances must be understood as in-
cluding all other necessaries, as well as food. Mr. Irvine, on being asked the
same question, showed an equal unwillingness to strike an average ; but he
pitches the minimum of his sliding scale considerably higher than the session-
clerk. " The ordinary allowance," says Mr. Irvine, " to the poor on the per-
manent roU, varies from £2 to £3 10s. a-year." Mr. Irvine seems to have
always had a peculiar repugnance to 6d. a-week, and so he differs with the
session-clerk, and makes the minimum 9\d. a-week. It would be rude to pry
too minutely into the respective credibility of the minister and the clerk ; but,
two gentlemen, who, upon oath, and with the poor's roll in their hands, gave
such very different replies to the same question, should be extremely cautious
in dealing out insinuations of falsehood against others. Mr. Irvine, it seems,
has had great experience of the treatment of the poor in Highland parishes.
He was a minister in the parishes of Dull and Portingall, as well as Blair-
Atholl ; and he suras up his evidence, on the state of the poor, in the latter
parish, with this remark — "The poor here are much in the same state as tho^e
in the parish of Eortingall." Turning over to the reverend gentleman's evi-
dence on Fortingall, I find him, after detailing the miserable provision made
for the poor, giving utterance to these remarkable words : " The best assist-
ance which the poor have in Tortingall and in Highland parishes is from the
kindness of their friends and neighbours !" Mr. Irvine literally swears, before
a public commission, that the allowances to the poor in Highland parishes are
so small and inadequate that the destitute creatures are more indebted to the
private charity of their neighbours than to them for their subsistence ; and
when I make the very same remark respecting the poor in Blair-Atholl, this
same gentleman rushes into print against me with the most sweeping denials,
and the directest insinuations of misinformation and falsehood!

With respect to the distribution of the Queen's donation of £100 to the
poor of Blair-Atholl, Mr. Irvine's reply to my remarks is entirely beside the
point. He says that, " in no case was the Queen's donation substituted for
the allowance which the poor would have received from the parish fund ;"
but the question is — Was it substituted for the allowance which they should^
and, in law, were entitled to have received ? Mr. Irvine admits that it was
given out in small sums, and he does not deny that two years elapsed before it
was finally distributed. He also states that it was given to those who were
receiving allowance from the parish. These allowances, I maintain, fall far
short of what the poor are legally entitled to ; and Mr. Irvine and the kirk-
session, by dribbling out the Queen's gift in small supplementary suras, gave
strong occasion for the complaints rife in the parish, that her Majesty's bene-
volence to the poor was adroitly made a present of to the heritors. The law
gives the destitute aright to " needful sustentation." If the parochial alloM-
ances in Blair- AthoU were sufficient to provide " needful sustentation" to ihe
poor, why were these allowances supplemented for two years with a sum of whii h
the poor should have felt the immediate advantage P Mr. Irvine and the Kirk-
session of Blair-AthoU have no right to assume that the objects of her Mar
jesty's bounty are not fit to make a good use of it, unless it be distilled through
their parochial alembic.

Mr. Irvine, though complaining of misrepresentation, tries his hand at a

188 APPENDIX.

little of that work himself. He charges me with " gnunhling that the Central
Relief Board refused to send supplies into Blair- Atholl." I defy him to pro-
duce a single sentence of mine that bears any such construction. I simply
stated the fact of the Board's refusal ; and so far from murmuring, my feelings,
indeed, were all the other way. It would have been a piece of arrant effrontery
for a Duke, who could afford to make a deer-forest of Glen Tilt, to have sought
assistance from a public charity fund.

Mr. Irvine concludes his letter with an injunction to " all Southrons who
undertake to enlighten the public on the ' Condition of the Highlands.' " The
servants of the public, among whom I am proud to be included, do not require
Mr. Irvine's advices ; and though they certainly cannot lay claim to the exdop
sive information possessed by that gentleman, they may congratulate themselves
upon having dragged abuses to light that might have been kept in secrecy till
doomsday, for anything that would have escaped from the nominees of the dukes
and lairds.

I am, Sir,

November 17, 1847. Youe Special Corkespondent.

Mr. Irvine took up the pen again, and the following letter, with the
appended note, appeared in the Mail : —

Sir — I am to-day favoured vrith your publication of the 23d, in which I
observe a letter from your " Special Correspondent," by way of answer to mine
published in your paper of the 27th ult., defending the Parochial Board of
this parish from the unwarrantable attack made on us by that gentleman in
a previous communication.

I perfectly admit your correspondent's right to justify his statements, if he
can; and beg to assure him that my equanimity is not in the least disturbed
by his present attempt to do so, now that I know (what I was not certain of
when I last wrote to you) that he is a stranger to this part of the country.
I have further to say that I am willing to grant him every indulgence to which,
on that score, he can reasonably lay claim, and to let pass, as sufficient, the
excuses he offers for part of the inaccuracy contained in the article of which I
complained. The gist of his defence is, that, trusting to documents he quotes,
and to information he received on the spot, he thought he was correct; and I am
quite willing to let it stand, to a certain extent, in proof of his desire to be so.

But even stretching this concession to the utmost, he still gets into mis-
takes for which it cannot be made to account. For example, in defence of his
statement as to the rate of aliment given to the poor, he quotes testimony g:iyen
by the fgrmer session-clerk and myself before the Poor-law Commissioners in
1843, and dwells at great length upon that, as justifying aU he had stated on
that head. But he suppresses the date at which that evidence was given. It
referred to the state of the poor in 1843, before I became minister of this
parish ; but, for aught he says to the contrary, the public are left to infer that
it referred to a period so long subsequent as to support his statement. Now,
I submit that a " servant of the public" should be careful to inform them fully
on a subject on which he volunteers to enlighten them. If he had, as in duty
bound, done so, I would have left it to them to infer whether what was true
in 1843 must be also necessarily true in 1847, and whether those who are

''onsible for the administration of the Poor-law in the latter year aie to he

ArrENDix. 189

held responsible for their acts, who were charged with the administration of
the old law, in the former.

He tries to make a point of the seeming inconsistency between the evidence
of the session-clerk and mine ; but there is no real inconsistency. The fact
is, there was no fixed amount of weekly or monthly aliment paid at the time
when that evidence was given, so that it was impossible to say with precise
accuracy what it was. That, however, was reformed very soon afterwards,
and ought not, in common fairness, to have been now brought up to justify a
charge against the management of the poor in this present year.

Your correspondent seems wonderstruck at my having stated that the " best
assistance afforded to the poor was that derived from the kindness of their
friends and neighbours," which he chooses to construe into an admission of
the total inadequacy of the compulsory relief afforded them. And if it were
80, what has the state of the poor in Portingall in 1843 to do with that of the
poor in Blair- Atholl in 1847 P But I beg to tell him that the poor were far
better off than they are now, or are likely ever to be, when there was no com-
pulsory provision made for their support. It used to be deemed a disgrace to
the recipient and his friends to be upon the parish relief roll. And my state-
ment was not meant as a censure on any one, but as a well-merited tribute to
the kindly and Christian feeling of the people. It is, as it ever has been, my
opinion, that voluntary charity is a far more Christian source of support to
tlie poor than compulsory assessment ; and it is to the decay of the means or
the will to afford it that is to be attributed the growth of what I consider to
be both morally and economically the bad, though necessary, substitute of a
legal aliment. Even now, to estimate the paupers* means of subsistence, at
least in country parishes, by the amount of the aliment paid them, is an error
into which none can fall but such as are entirely ignorant of the subject. But
the time is fast approaching when the country will be studded with poor's
houses, and when it will be quite correct to judge of the comfort of the poor
by the amount of money raised by Act of Parliament for their maintenance.
For the present it is not so, and they who get the smallest share of that ali-
ment may be as well off, taking everything into account, as they who get the
largest.

If it be of any consequence to the public to know, they are quite welcome
to the information that the rates paid to the poor of this parish for the cur-
rent year (excluding ft-om the calculation lunatics confined in asylums at a high
rate of board) varied from 6s. a-week, through the intermediate gradations of
Ss. 6d., 3s., 2s. 6d., 2s., and so downwards to the rate of 6d. a-week, accord-
ing to their health, age, the aid afforded by their relatives, and their other
means of subsistence — a rate of aliment which, allowing for difference of
habits and cost of living, your correspondent is quite welcome to compare with
that which prevails at his own door.

He complains that I have misrepresented him as " grumbling because the
Central Relief Board refused to send supplies into Blair- Atholl." I can assure
him I had no intention to do so. But besides other good grounds for having
said this, which I need not mention, I must still say that, looking at the words
he uses, in the connection in which they stand, I should be of the opinion I
was of before, if I had not his own assurance that he intended nothing of the
kind.

I had intended to notice other parts of his commanication, bat I have al-

103 APPENDIX.

ready occupied too much of yoar Taluable space on a matter of so little interest
as compared with those to which it might be devoted. And I have, there-
fore, hut to say that, as to the abuses which he takes credit for having dragged
to light, I trust I have shown that they have been dragged only from the depths
of his own imagination, or theirs who were his informants.

I take leave of the subject by saying that, to prove the true friends of the
poor, it is necessary to avoid withholding from them '' needful sustentation '*
on the one hand, and the encouragement of idleness, improvidence, and vice,
on the other, ^nd it is to be hoped that all concerned in this important duty
of working the provisions of the new Poor-law will conscientiously endeavour
to strike the mean between these extremes, without much caring for any ill-
considered judgment to which, in any quarter, they may be subjected.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

Alex. R. I&vua.

The Manse, Blair- AthoU, Nov. 26, 1847.

Editorial Note. — Our readers will observe, from the above, that Mr. Irvine
still withholds all information calculated to overturn any of our correspondent's
statements. He says not a word about the remarkable discrepancy between
the statement made in his previous letter, relative to the number of persons
receiving relief in his parish, and the report on the same subject made to Par-
liament, at the beginning of the present year, by the Board of Supervision.
According to Mr. Irvine, there, are only 48 paupers in Blair- AthoU, and, ac-
cording to the Board of Supervision, there are 65. Which of these authori-
ties are we to believe P And, though Mr. Irvine informs us that the allow-
aiices vary from 6s. to 6d. a-week, he declines to give the number of paupers
receiving the higher sum, and the numbers, respectively, receiving the lower
and intermediate sums, though it is only by such information that the public
can ascertain what " the general aliment" is. There is only one interpreta-
tion to be put on Mr. Irvine's silence. The reverend gentleman has shown
that he loottld convict our correspondent of inaccurate information if he could;
and his refusal to produce the evidence necessary to do so proves that he has
no such evidence to produce. Mr. Irvine has recourse to one very desperate
expedient to make up his reply. He charges our correspondent with conceal-
ing that the evidence given by Mr. Irvine and the session-clerk was taken by
the Poor-law Commissioners in 1843, and referred to the state of the poor
at that time. Now, in quoting the minutes of evidence on the poor, it is ex-
pressly stated in our correspondent's letter that they were " taken by the Poor-
law Commissioners in 1843." Mr. Irvine's pretended oversight of this is an
artifice so unlike what might be expected from a clergyman, that we forbear
to characterise it. Mr. Irvine alludes to " lunatics confined in asylums at a
high rate of board." When did the Blair-AtholL lunatics happen to be con-
fined in asylums P The report of the Board of Supervision, already referred
to, states that there are six pauper lunatics in Blair- AthoU, and that these are
kept " in houses with relatives or others;" and, moreover, that the Board had
granted permission for them to be continued in such houses. There are so
many contradictions in Mr. Irvine's letter and the publicly-authorised reports
from his parish, that it occurs to us that his Parochial Board is a ripe subject
for the investigation of the Board of Supervision, and to that authority we are
content, in the meantime, to resign them.

ArrKNDix.

191

No. n.

I found some difficulty in ascertaining authentically the sums ex-
pended on the poor in the parishes in which my attention was attracted
to the administration of the Poor- Law. The " First Report of the
Board of Supervision,'* which brings up the returns to the 1st Febru-
ary, 1846, was the latest public document that I could refer to ; and,
accordingly, when I have found it desirable, as in the case of Strath, to
state the sum expended annually on relief of the poor, I have been
obliged to take the year ending 3 st February, 1846. But as the Bit;h-
land parishes are in a transition state in so far as regards the Poor-
Law, it is obvious that considerable changes may have taken place since
the returns of the " First Report" were made up. Since the foregoing
slieets have been in the hands of Jbhe printer, the " Second Annual Re-
port of the Board of Supervision" has been published, which enables
me to supply this defect by appending the following table, giving the
total amouVit of money expended on the relief of the poor in the year
ending 14th May, 1847, in the principal parishes referred to in my
letters, together with the annual rental, population, and number of per-
sons receiving relief, including occasional as well as permanent poor : —

Total Amount
Expended.

Valued Hental
in 1843.

Pop. in
1841.

Poop.

Ardnamurchan,

Blair-Atholl,

Cromdale,

Duirinish,

Glenelg,

Glenshiel,

Kilmallie,

Kilmonivaig,

Kilmorack,

•^ ,i fKilninian,..
^•^^'^Kilfinichen,,

Kingussie,

Kintail,

Lochalsh,

Lochcarron,

Portree,,

Strath,

£735 4 5

300

495 4 4

342 8 ^

278 9 4

81 8

838 4 li

313 8 9i

423 15 lOi

179 4 9

350

380 18 7i

92 1 6

103 3 2

42 14 7

269 1 10

245 11 7i

£12,310
11,846
5,848
4,998
6,642
3,014
13,106
12,746
9,931
7,900
4,668
4,625
3,017
3,097
2,889
3,195
8,026

13 4
10 8

6

16 10

11 9

4 6

2

5 iir

9 3'
1 9

5,581
2,231
3,561
4,983
2,729
745
5,397
2,791
2,694
4,335
4,113
2,047
1,168
2,597
1,960
3,674
3,150

161

55

192

230

95

24

168

141

102

140

110

105

43

73

44

186

109

192 APPENDII.

• No. m.

The first notice taken by me of Lord Abinger'g estate was on the
occasion of the Queen's journey to Loch Laggan. A few of the large
tenants took offence at the remarks which I then made ; and at the in-
stance of Mr. McDonald, Fort- William, a meeting was called to vindi-
cate Lord Abinger from what they were pleased to call " a very unjust
and wanton attack in a certain public newspaper, called the North
British Mail" As the result of that meeting, the following documents
were published as an advertisement in some of the Edinburgh and
Glasgow newspapers : —

MINUTES AND EESOLUTIONS OP THE TENANTS.

At Fort William, the Ist day of September, 1847, and at a meeting of the
principal tenants on the estate of the Right Hon. Lord Abinger —

John Cameron, Esq., of Corrychoillie,
John Kennedy, Esq., Leanachan,
Kenneth Kennedy, Esq., Leanachan,
Thomas M' Donald, Esq., Achindaul,
Donald Cameron, Esq., Camisky,

PRESENT,

John M*Donald, Esq., Inverlochy, (for
himself and the tenants of Xilli-
chonate,)

Mr. John Robertson, Inverlochy, (for
Mr. D. Gordon Stewart.)

Mr. Thomas M'Donald was called to the Chair.
This meeting assembled for the purpose of taking into consideration certain
severe attacks made npon the character and conduct of the Bight Hon. Lord
Abinger : and having done so, they came to the following nnanimons

EESOLUTIONS.

1. That the meeting have read with unqualified disapprobation the virulent
and unjustifiable attack upon Lord Abinger's character as a landlord, which
appears in tlie North British Daily Mail of 24th August last.

2. That nearly all the land improvements which have taken place on the
Lochaber estate have been made during the short period of six years for which
Lord Abinger has been its proprietor ; and that while it may be quite troe
that the cultivation of the soil has not been carried on to the extent which is
desirable, it is entirely false to accuse his Lordship of " hatred to industry, or
discouraging improvement."

3. That the principal farms on Lord Abinger's estate, with one single ex-
ception, are possessed under current leases, granted antecedent to his purchase,
with the terms of which his Lordship could not interfere ; and, as regards that
exception, very extensive and judicious improvements are in progress upon it;
whilst on every single farm on the estate some amelioration has been m»^
by the tenants in possession.

4. That the meeting cannot too warmly dsclaim this attack upon Lord
Abinger's character as a landlord, his Lordsihp having always behaved to his

APPENDIX. 193

tenantry in the kindest and most considerate manner, and there being between
him and them the most cordial and entire g^)od feeling.

5. That the statement, that the late Lord Abinger purchased " this Lochaber
moss for a game preserve, and that the present owner devotes every inch of it
most religiously to the same purpose," is a glaring and monstrous untruth.
That great and distinguished man never interfered with the estate of Inver-
lochy ; the management of which he left with his son, for whom it was pur-
chased, and who has never since his occupancy removed or disturbed a single
tenant. Moreover, it consists with the knowledge and experience of this
meeting, that whilst his Lordship has excellent moors, he lets less of them, and
gives comparatively less trouble to his tenants, than almost any other pro-
prietor in the district ; the whole extent from the river Nevis to the eastern
boundary of the estate, with the magnificent range of mountains in the back-
ground, being let in sheep-farms, and there is just one gamekeeper on these
bounds.

6. That the meeting strongly reprobates tiiis unwarrantable and malicious
interference between a landlord and his tenants; an interference rendered the
more indiscreet and inexcusable because made in connection with her Majesty's
tour through the Highlands.

T. M'DONALD, ESQ., TO ME. M*GKE60R, LOBD ABINGER'S FACTOR.

Fort William, 1st Sept., 1847.
My dear Sir — As Chairman of the meeting of Lord Abinger's tenants,
held here this day, I beg to send you witli this the Resolutions entered into
by all who attended ; and you can, if you please, transmit them to his Lordship,
or hold them until he arrives in this country.

Believe me, yours very sincerely,

(Signed) Thos. M*Donald.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD ABINGER TO THOMAS M*DONALD, ESQ.

Abinger H^ Sept. 7, 184/7.

Dear Sir — I hold myself greatly obliged to you and to the other gentle-
men, the principal tenants of the estate of Liverlochy, who signed the Keso-
lutions I have just received.

Their sense of the malice and the untruth of the attacks made upon me by
some writer in a Glasgow newspaper is expressed in a manner very gratifying
to me ; and I receive with great pleasure this spontaneous proof that no ma-
lice can impair the cordial esteem and confidence which so happily subsist
between us. The consciousness of possessing such a body of just men for my
firm friends is an addition to my comfort, in proportion as I value my good
name more than any other possession I inherit from my lamented predecessors. ^

I enjoy in that consciousness a reward for the pains and the cost I have
bestowed in what I think you fidriy call the exclusive improvements of the
lands of Inverlochy; and I am animt^ by it to proceed, unmoved by calumny,
in the same course.

I will not dwell upon the details of those improvements, whether of plant-
ing, trenching, draining, or enclosing, as you are well acquainted with them ;
but, tnmii\g to another subject, I widi to take this occasion of mentioning,

B

194 APPENDIX.

that I should have been forward in giving whatever assistance I could, bj my
presence and that of all my tenants, on a recent occasion, if I had not eoD-
oeived that retirement and quiet were the object of the visit wil^ which the
Highlands have been so greatly honoured. Whenever our byal duties clearly
call upon us to stand together, I shall ever be found ready.

I beg you will accept my best thanks for your kindness ; and that yoa will
communicate them also to the other gentlemen ; and

I remain, dear Sir, yours very sincerely,

AsiNess.

In reply to the above, I addressed the followinj^ to the Editor of the
Mail :—

Sir, — Mr. McDonald has already published, in an Edinburgh oontempoiaiy,
the resolutions adopted by six of his co-tenants, condemnatory of the remarks,
or, as they are pleased to call it, " the attack," which I felt it my duty to make
upon the condition of Lord Abinger's property in Lochaber, in a letter pub-
lished in tbe Mail of the 24th ult. It is somewhat singular, as you observe
in your article of to-day, that these resolutions should have been concealed
from public notice till it was known that I had left the district to which they
refer. They were adopted at a meeting held on the 1st instant, and the letter
which Lord Abinger has attached to them bears to have been written a fnU
fortnight ago. If my attack was so calumnious as these resolutions represent
it to be, why did Mr. M'Donald permit his chivalrous vindication of his land-
lord to remain so long unpublished P I cannot but think that it was intended
by this delay to place me at a disadvantage when I should come to make a
reply to the charges levelled against me in these resolutions. Had I not fore-
armed myself, it might have been necessary for me to have returned to Lodi-
aber, and there elicited, by much difficulty and expense, the materials necessaiy
to substantiate my original statements, and to repel the accusations made
against my veracity. Luckily I used the precaution of making myself tho-
roughly acquainted with the condition of Lord Abinger's property in Lochaber
before I left that part of the country ; and I now request the patience and
attention of your readers, while I give to the advertisement concocted by Lord
Abinger's &ctor and seven of his tenants as complete a refutation as can be
given to any public document.

That I may miss nothing of importance, I propose to take up the state-
ments in the resolutions teriatimy and to number them as I proceed.

Firstly, I am charged, in general terms, with making ** a virulent and un>
justifiable attack on Lord Abinger's character as a landlord." My re^ to
this is simple. Lord Abinger keeps a beantiftd and most improveable tract
of country under moss and heather — a course which deprives the people bom
on that soil of their natural subsistence, and the nation at large of valuabte
resources. The press, I maintain, is entitled to condemn such conduct in a
landlord. At a period when the Highland population is living upon the cha-
ritable donations of the public, and when the commerce of the country itself
is reeling under the effects of scarcity, the press is not only entitled — it is so-
lemnly bound to do so ; therefore my attack cannot be called ** mgustiflable.**
As to its being "virulent,** I cannot see how that epithet can be applied to an
honest censure passed upon a system which is no less iigurious to his Lordship
than to the people at large.

APPENDIX. 195

Secondly, It is said that " nearly all the land improTement which has taken
place on the Lochaber estate has been made dnring the short period of six
years for which Lord Abinger has been its proprietor." I never asserted that
it had not. The purport of my letter was, that during these six years Lord
Abinger had kept a large amount of good land in a state of waste ; and it is
no answer to say that nearly all the improvement which has taken place on
the estate has been done under his Lordship's proprietorship. Lord Abinger's
predecessors may have been as bad improvers as himself and if they allowed
good land to lie waste, that does not justify his Lordship in following the same
course, or a course only a shade or two better. So fax from concealing that
some improvements had taken place on the property, I drew special attention
to several cases in which the moss had been reclaimed with the greatest
success. I alluded to Auchindaul, to M'Diarmid's croft, and to the allot-
ment occupied by Lord Abinger's shepherd, as parts of the estate which had
been fertilised by a praiseworthy expenditure of capital and labour. And the
success which had attended these cases of improvement was instanced to show
the inexcusableness of Lord Abinger in allowing the large part of the estate
occupied by himself to lie under moss. For it is to Lord Abinger's farm that
my letter of the 24th ult. had special reference. The seven tenants pass re-
solutions, in which they talk of improvements made by tenants in possession,
and on this fEirm and the other farm, and adroitly endeavour to have all these
placed in the mind of the reader to the credit of Lord Abinger. It is obvious,
however, that there ought to be a wide distinction made between improvements
effected by his Lordship and those effected by his tenants. The principal im-
provements observable on the estate have been effected by tenants under leases
granted by Lord Aboyne, and for which Lord Abinger is entitled to no credit.
This fact led me to infer that, had the property remained in the hands of Lord
Aboyne, it is probable that the work of reclamation would have proceeded with
vigour, seeing that the leases granted by that nobleman were just so many ex-
periments upon the improvable qualities of the soil. This inference may be
too feivourable to Lord Aboyne ; but it certainly is not unjust to Lord Abin-
ger, as his Lordship has neither granted any new leases of the moss to improv-
ing tenants, nor reclaimed it by his own capital

Thirdly, In connection with the above statement, the seven resolutionists
affirm that '* it is entirely &lse to accuse his Lordship of ' hatred to industry, or
discouraging improvement.' " There is no such phrase as this in my letter of
the 24th ult., or in any succeeding remarks on this subject which have been
pubUshed in the Mail, It is not merely a garbled but an invented quotation,
ascribable to a little of that &Isity of imagination on the part of the seven which
they impute in such unmeasured terms to others. The poverty and wretched-
ness of the labourers and crofters on the Lochaber estate, when contrasted with
the degree of comfort with which Lord Abinger remunerates his gamekeeper
— a remuneration to which that official is no doubt fully entitled — ^is described
in my letter of the 24th ult. as having the effect of infusing a " hatred of in-
dustry" into the hearts of the people ; but no such thing has ever appeared in
the Mail as an accusation against his Lordship of being personally actuated by
** hatred of industry." Neither have I directly charged his Lordship with " dis-
couraging improvement," though I fed that I might now do so with the utmost
truth and justice. In my letter of the 24th ult., I blamed his Lordship merely

196 APPENDIX.

for doing nothing to advance improvement ; bat is it not a direct discourage-
ment of improvement to prohibit the crofters from burning the heather off the
hills for which they are paying rent, and which yield the only pasture that
can be got by their cows P My attention was attracted to a green spot on the
braes where the heather was set on fire, by ckaneey as the crofters say > and
there plenty of good sweet grass was growing, while all aroond there was
nothing but a brown unkindly covering of heath. The match has only to be
appUed to that heath in order to cover the whole hill with the same rich pas-
ture ; but Lord Abinger steps in, and by a word of power prevents this simple
and fertilizing operation. Will the seven resolutionists say whether his
Lordship, in so doing, encourages or discoun^es improvement P It is worthy
of notice that, in the same resolution in which they declare it to be " entirely
false to accuse his Lordship of discouraging improvement," it is admitted **to
be quite true that the cultivation of the soil has not been carried on to the
extent which is desirable." By this confession th^ yield nearly all that I
have affirmed, and all that is most important to contend for. That Lord
Abinger owns a tract of soil the cultivation of which is " desirable," and that
he has hitherto failed to cultivate it himself, or to cause it to be cultivated by
others, is just the sum and substance of aU that I have stated ; and it is very
gratifying to find its truth acknowledged by the same mouths which attempt
to load me with a charge of falsehood.

Fourthly, It is stated that '' the principal fisirms on Lord Abinger^s estate,
with one single exception, are possessed under current leases, granted ant&>
cedent to his purchase, with the terms of which his Lordship could not inter-
fere." I stated distinctly in my letter of the 34th ult., that certain fiirms on
the estate were held under leases granted by the Marquis of Huntly, so that
this announcement must have some other object than to contradict any as-
sertion made by me. The seven wise men of Lochaber intend, perhaps,
to transfer from Lord Abinger to the Marquis of Huntly's leases the odium
of any mismanagement or oppression which may be found to exist upon the
estate ; but they will find this to be impossible. It is chiefly on the fiarms
held under Lord Aboyne*s leases that any reclamation of waste land hastakrai
place. If these improvements, therefore, are attributable to the leases, it is
Lord Aboyne and not Lord Abinger that must be thanked for them. But if
the leases are unfavourable in some respects, as I believe thqr are, to im-
provements, as well as unjust to the tenants, it is a weak and ridiculous sub-
terfuge to say that Lord Abinger cannot alter or interfere with the ii^'urious,
any more than the beneficial, part of their terms. What is to hinder him P
The tenants are certainly not likely to object to their privileges being extended,
or to those prohibitions being removed which prevent them from deriving the
advantages from the soil which it is capable of yielding, even though the
change should cast a little disrespect on the integrity of Lord Aboyne*8 leases.
The crofters of Unachan will offer no objection, I dare say, to Ms Lordship
building them new dwelling-houses and offices, though their lease compds them
to build them for themselves ; or to his granting them a few acres of good
improvable land, in lieu of the impracticable moss of which they have found
one-half their crofts to consist. It is perfectly easy for Lord Abinger to do a
vast amount of good on the farms held under lease ; and good, moreover,
which the existing conditions of the leases prevent ; while, as r^iards tliose

APPENDIX. 197

faxms of which the tenants have no leases, as well as that part of the estate
which is occupied hy the owner himself^ the path of beneficence is quite open
to his Lordshfp. The resolutionists say that it is the "principal farms" which
are under lease ; but why are leases granted of the principal farms onlyP The
poor crofters of Brachlatter, Kilmonivaig, Tommaharrich, and Dalavenve, have
no leases ; and yet Lord Abinger has been six years their proprietor. Is ten>
ancy-at-will the mark of an improving landlord P This question of leases
opens up a deplorable chapter in the history of Highland landlordism. The
l^ge farmers have all leases ; fine dwelling-houses and substantial farm-stead-
ings are built for them at the landlord's expense ; and the finest parts of the
land are included in their sheep-walks. But the poor crofters are located on
the poorest and coarsest parts of the soil ; they are obliged to erect their own
mud hovels ; and the lands on which they cannot enter without building ha-
bitable erections, and from which they cannot expect to extract the scantiest
subsistence without a most lavish and unwearied expenditure of labour, are
held by them without any lease, or any securer tie than the sufferance of their
landlord, or the verbal promise of his &ctor.

Fifthly, It is said that the attack on Lord Abinger cannot be too warmly
disclaimed, because his Lordship has "always behaved to his tenantry in the
kindest manner," and between him and them there is " the most cordial and
entire good feeling." My letter of the 244;h ult. did not contain a single word
affecting Lord Abinger*s treatment of his tenantry. It regarded solely the
ii^jurious effects of his Lordship's waste ground upon the interests of the people
generally ; and Mr. Thomas M'Donald and his six co-tenants committed an
act of gross presumption in meddling with a matter with which they had
nothing whatever to do. Admitting that Lord Abinger has been very kind
and considerate to Mr. Thomas and his six friends, is this any reason why no
notice should be taken of the improvability of his Lordship's moss, and the
good which would be diffused throughout society by its cultivation P It is
certainly a most glaring act of vanity for seven Lochaber farmers to push
forward their private feelings and interests as a counterpoise to the weightiest
considerations of the public good. I would recommend Lord Abinger not to
place too much reliance on what the seven tell him respecting the feeling of
his tenants. Such conceited gentry are very apt to mistake their own feelings
for the feelings of the tenantry at large.

Sixthly, It is alleged that it was " a monstrous untruth" for me to say
that the late Lord Abinger purchased " this Lochaber Moss for a game pre-
serve, and that the present owner devotes every inch of it most religiously to
the same purpose." Which is the untruth P The statement that the late
Lord Abinger purchased the moss for a game preserve, or the other statement
that his son devotes it to that purpose P The resolutionists would fain deny
the truth of both these statements, and the way in which they do so is a fine
specimen of verbal jugglery. " The late Lord Abinger," say they, " did not
purchase the moss for a game preserve — ^that great and distinguished man
purchased it for his son !" The evasion involved in this reply is truly artisti-
cal. But when you ask them, Does not the present Lord Abinger devote
the moss to the purpose of a game preserve P the sleight-of-hand with which
they dispose of it is equally clever. " No ! he does not," say they ; " he
never, since his occupancy, removed or disturbed a single tenant !" Why,

B,2

pvtii^rtiur to fjfi
ttdnd to titt rn

ty tfmiiifr r

of ta; fiif
iMMttO*

APPENDIX.

W9

I appeared in the Timss, from which I extract the following

«^* The first resolution wiis proposod by Ixird Abmger, who

^s liigh eulotfium upon tlie cbarac-ter of tlio Iligblami iiea&aiitT)',

r<:>j>riuto terms alluded to the condition of bis esUtes on tbe

t of Inverness-sliire. The noble Lord stated that he was pre-

opt tb© ^lewa of the society, and bad already B«nt down to

t gentleman whom be wag prou<l to call his friend, and wboso

lirould be closely directed to tbe interests and prosperity of the |

?eil under hia Lordship's care." Tbe leading objects of tbe

f Society are to improve* tbe husbandry of tbe crofters, to ex-

ht; present wretched cottar system, and to improve tbe dwell-

iMi' f b*' peaaautry ; and to these Lord Abinger not only declares bis

►.ion, but considers them to be so much needed on bi^s own estate,

tnd do^Ti a friend tor the purj^se of promoting them, I could

I U-t\v desired a more aatij?factory proof of tbe success of ray labours,

rtiore complete refutation of the charge made against rae by Mr.

Datudd and bis six co-tenants.

' K1N£TEEN TEAHS* IKASE OK&irTEH TO LQBJ> ABIJTGER'S CEOTTHltf^
ON THE fARM Of LNaCUA^N.

Kif Crofter) -
Hiding ^t—

Fort Williani, M August, 1S35.

J autboriscd by tbe Earl of Abojue^ 1 hereby set to you the Crofl, No. — ^

fhan, tts Hhtiwn on tbe plan rarwJe np by Mr. Morrison, Umd-sor\ejor, in

^■moatb of March lant, and which pbio is subscribed by me aa rcktive

, and lb lit for the space of ainetceQ years from and at'ter the tenn of

^tiitsutidiiy lust, at the yearly term of ^, payable ut two lenaa in tbe

*ijkr — MartiniiiHs nrid Whitsunday — by ec|ual moitties, Tbe Koumirgof every
^(1 ' an the sjud croft is on no Jiccount to eieced three wwa

I liorbe ia to he turned off the croft during fuur months
' rehy expressly ItJceu boimd to eunvfrt in a proper
t one liidf ttcrc of tbe «ajsle ^{juml and mosa of
1 1 \ curly, till ibe whole is taken in. You shall be
: your removal, for such a dwelling-bouso as
I i!i!>' i* done according to a plan, to be approved
<n- laa factor, such allow lUuTi not to exceed the tsam of
Vou are cxpreasly taken bound to observe and conform
' d rules and regulalioHs of the estate, a copy of which,
IS herewith dcbvenDd to you, and to endoac the said eroft,
iMtre in a aafHdent aiate at your raujoval ; and, histlyjit
I * lared and cnudilioned, that you shiiU fortcit this lease,
_|-itLur ahall be entitled to remove you from tbe said croft, at

200 APPENDIX.

the first tenn of Whitsunday, in any one year in which yon shall fedl in im-
proving the said one half acre of land, or in which yon shall keep an over-
sooming, contravene any of the printed regdations, or any of the conditions
of this set

(Signed) Jn. MiLCOKBGOS.

CB0rrES*8 ACX3FTANCS 07 LEAS£.

Unachan, 7th Sept., 1835.
I hereby accept of the within offer of lease, and that nnder the conditions
and stipulations therein mentioned, as well as under the conditions and stipu-
lations contained in the printed regulations therein referred to, a copy of which
I hereby acknowledge to have received.

(Signed Bed Rob or Black Sandy, &c^ as the crofter's
Gaelic designation may be.)

ARTICLES AND CONDITIONS OF LEASE.

The following is a copy of the printed regulations referred to in the above
form of lease : —

1. That in case of any controversy with the neighbouring heritors or their
tenants respecting marches, it shall be in the power of the proprietor or his
&ctor to settle these marches without the consent of the tenants, they being
only entitied to compensation for their loss, as the same shall be ascertained
by two arbiters mutually chosen.

2. That if any controversy respecting marches shall arise betwixt tacksman
and tacksman of the respective farms bounding with one another, all such
difference shall be referred and submitted ^to the said proprietor, who may
either settie the same by a writing under his own hands, or delegate a power
by mandate to his &ctor on the lands for the time being, or any other judicial
person in the district, whose determination in writing shall be final.

8. That the proprietor shall have liberty to enclose and preserve the stools
of wood upon the respective fsinns, and also to enclose and plant any other
grounds that he may judge suitable for that purpose, granting such compensa-
tion for the grounds so occupied as shall be awarded by two arbiters to be
mutually chosen.

4. That every tacksman and tenant shall be accountable for the whole
growing timber and wood of eveiy kind upon his possession; and in case they,
by themselves or servants, shall be found guilty of cutting, peeling, or destsoy-
ing any wood, or guilty of kindling or raising muirbnm, later than the tinae
fixed by Act of Parliament, after being convicted on sufficient proof by the
judge ordinary of the county, or his substitute, they shall forfeit the benefit of
their lease.

5. That, whereas there are many rivers and bums running through different
parts of the lordship, that are occasionally veiy destructive to the adjao^tit
grounds, particularly in high floods ; therefore, in order to defend the fields
from the effect of these, it is expressly stipulated that every tenant paying a
rent of fifty pounds and under shall be obliged, when regularly charged by the
ground officer, to work for six days with one man, at said rivers, any seaaon of

APPENDIX. 201

the year (seed time and harvest excepted), for the customary working hours,
or pay a penalty of three shillings sterling for each different day; and every
tenant renting more than fifty pounds to work nine days, on the same conditions.

6. The proprietor reserves all the peat mosses, with power to regulate and
divide them as circumstances may render necessary ; and all the tenants and
possessors of farms are to be obliged, in future, to cast their peats and fuel in
a regular manner, and on the allotments set apart for their respective fsurms, by
the moss grieve, carrying the banks equally forward, without potting, under the
penalty of twenty shillings sterling for each transgression. No tenant is allowed
to sell peats, or grant a liberty of cutting peats, on his possession, to any other
proprietor or his tenants, under penalty of forfeiting his lease on conviction.

7. The proprietor reserves all the fishings, game, and all mines and quar-
ries, with the liberty to search for mines and quarries, and work them, with-
out the tenant's consent, on paying the surfEice damage, as the same shall be
ascertained by two arbiters mutually chosen ; and the tenants are hereby taken
bound to use all diligence in preserving the fishings and game, and preventing
poaching.

8. The tenants are bound to accede to all regulations and measures of public
police which are, or shall be, established by the proprietor, for the more orderly
management of the estate and the general good of the country ; and, in parti-
cular, they shall be obliged to employ fox-hunters, as may be judged necessary,
and contribute to the payment of their wages, in proportion to their real rents.

9. The tenant is bound not to subset or assign his lease without the per-
mission, in writing, of the proprietor. The tack is to go to the lawfdl heirs-
male of his own body, according to seniority in the first instance ; failing them,
to the heirs-females by the same rule, without division ; and failing them, to his
nearest male heir wluttsoever, on his finding security for punctual payment of
five years' rents ; but the tenant is allowed, notwithstanding, by a regular deed
under his hand, to select any one of his children that he may incline, in pre-
ference to another, to succeed him in the lease, who will be recognised and re-
ceived by the proprietor as tenant, provided the lease is not burdened with pro-
visions to other children, but descends to the individual named free and unin-
cumbered.

10. And whereas much inconvenience has been experienced in cases of bank-
ruptcy from the interference of creditors, who have frequently insisted for and
obtained possession of the farm, even Where all assignees, whether legal or vo-
luntary, had been excluded in the usual style, it is expressly stipulated that when
a tenant becomes and is declared bankrupt, his lease shall terminate, and the
&rm revert back to the proprietor, to be at his disposal ; but that there may
be no ground to complain of this as being unjust, whatever surplus rent is ob-
tained for the fiEum, when let anew, shall be accounted for annually when re-
covered, during the balance of the lease, to the creditors or their trustee, or an
equivalent, as may be agreed on, paid in one sum for' all the years unexpired.

11. The tenants are expressly prohibited from keeping any goats, or permit-
ting any of their dependents to do so, on any part of the lands under wood,
either planted or natural, under the penalty of paying £5 for each goat so kept,
attour the damage that may be sustained.

12. The tenant shall be bound to warn off and dismiss from his lands, at the

203 APPENDIX.

first tenxL affcer he is required by the proprietor or his fikotap, any eottar, sab-
tenant, or servant, aoonsed of stealing wood, of killing salmon, of poaching, or
any felonions crime, or harbonring persons guilty of such offences.

IS. The tenant and his heirs shall be boond to preserve in good order all
the houses, steadings, and offices, bnilt or to be bodlt upon the lands for his
use, either by himself or the proprietor, and shall leave them in good repair
at the end of the lease. In like manner he shall be bound to preserve or up-
hold the dykes or fences built or to be built on the grounds, and leave tiiem
in good tenantable order at his removal ; and in order that the tenant may, at
his entry, receive the houses and fences in the state of repair in which the out-
going tenant is bound to leave them, he shall then concur with the proprietor
in appointing proper persons to inspect them, and whatever sum shall be ny
covered from the out-going tenant for putting them in repair shall be applied
by the proprietor to that purpose.

14. The tenant shall be bound to insure against loss by fire all the houses,
steadings, and offices, covered with slates, and shall regularly pay the premium
and duty, and produce to the factor the receipt for the same at Martinmas yearly,
and the factor shall mark such production on the back of the receipt to be
granted to the tenant for his rent ; and in case the tenant shall omit or neglect
to make such regular payment, he shall be liable to sustain any loss that may
be thereby incurred, by accident or wilful fire, and to erect of new the build-
ings destroyed.

15. The tenant shall have no right to claim damage from the proprietor, or
deduction of rent, on account of roads, either pubUc or parochial, being carried
through the lands, without prejudice to any daim in law against the public,
county, or parochial fiinds.

16. The proprietor reserves full right and liberty for himself his factor, and
others appointed by him at all hands, during the lease, to enter \ipon the lands
and premises for the proper care of the woods and due management of the
estate, and also to examine the condition of the &rm, horses, dykes, and fences ;
and if any of these shall be found in disrepair, the proprietor or his fiuztor shall
be entitled to require the tenant, in writing, to make the necessary repair within
one month ; and if the tenant shall neglect the same within the time limited,
or refuse to make such repairs, the proprietor shall then have power to make
the same, and the tenant be bound to pay the expense thereof at the next term,
along with his rent, on the proprietor or his fEustor producing his accounts
thereafter.

17. All additional rents to be paid in certain events are on no account to be
considered as penal, but as the express agreement of parties, any law or custom
to the contrary notwithstanding. And it is hereby declared, that the proprietor,
receiving payment of the ordinary stipulated rent, and discharging the same,
shall be no bar to his demanding the additional rents of any preceding years of
the lease.

18. In case any party refuse or delay to name an arbiter in the various cases
above mentioned, when specially required in writing to do so, or in case the
arbiters differ in opinion, and refuse or delay to name an oversman after being
required in writing to do so, it shall be competent, upon the lapse of one mont^
after such notice, to apply to the Judge Ordinary to name an arbiter or overs-